A wooded landscape with a horse and cart on a country path, a cottage beyond

Hayes compares the present drawing to no. 754 in his catalogue and relates the treatment of the foliage and the horses and cart to the drawing in the collection of Mrs. W.W. Spooner (see Hayes, op.cit., p. 281). The present drawing belongs to a distinct group of landscape drawings executed in a very loose technique of brown or grey wash, that Gainsborough probably made as presentation drawings (see J. Hayes and L. Stainton, Gainsborough Drawings, Washington, 1983, p. 166, no. 75). It has been suggested that he was setting out to emulate artists such as Marco Ricci and to appeal to collectors of Old Master drawings. The border of embossed arabesque decoration and the artist's gold-stamped signature also supports the theory that the drawings were intended for sale. The black underdrawing may have been produced by transference, off-set from another sheet. For a discussion of this technique see L. Binyon, British Drawings in the British Museum, London, 1900, vol. II, pl. 176.