The present drawing is stylistically related to J. Hayes, The Drawings of Thomas Gainsborough, London, 1970, no. 67, pl. 3, and is dateable to the mid 1740s. The precise and tight nature of its execution is typical of Gainsborough's very early drawings.
The motif of the woodcutter carrying a load of faggots was to become one of Gainsborough's characteristic images, especially in the last fifteen years of his life. Previous to its appearance in these Rooms this drawing was known only from a photograph, formerly owned by Dr. Mary Woodall.