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Gainsborough Dupont (British, 1754–1797).

A woodland cottage with cows near a pond.

Oil on varnished laid paper with traces of pencil.

30.5 x 44.6 cm; 12 x 17 ½ inches.

Provenance: John Mayheux (d. 1839); General Arthur Easton (1863–1949); By whom bequeathed to his godson Major C. G. Carew Hunt (d. 1980); With Michael Harvard by 1959; With Edward Speelman; Brian Jenks, his sale, Sotheby’s, London, 27 June 1973, lot 46; Where acquired by the father of the previous owner, by descent until 2018. Exhibited : Victoria Art Gallery, Bath, Festival of Britain Gainsborough Exhibition, 1951.

Literature : John Hayes, The Landscape Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough, 1982, vol. 1, pp. 196 and 231, no. 24, illus. plate 262 (landscape with herdsman and cows).

These virtuoso oil sketches are from a larger group of about thirteen done by Gainsborough Dupont, Thomas Gainsborough’s nephew, pupil and studio assistant, and were thought to be by Gainsborough until John Hayes positively identified the hand of Dupont.

Five of this group are in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, two are in the Henry E. Huntingdon Library and Art Gallery, San Marino, and two are at Gainsborough’s House, Sudbury. Eight were sold at Sotheby’s, London, in June 1973, including the present examples.

Hayes describes these oil sketches on paper as amongst Gainsborough Dupont’s finest works, splendidly fluent, richly painted, these decorative compositions, with their surface emphasis and animation, are a fine late expression of the rococo (Hayes, op. cit., p. 231).

He notes that they are Dupont’s most personal and distinctive contribution to the genre, and of historical interest as oil sketches clearly intended as finished compositions for display.

The group exemplifies what Hayes described as Dupont’s latter-day rococo emphasis on decorative picturemaking: on surface pattern, rhythmic forms and line, and brilliant, often darting or flickering effects of light (ibid., p. 191).

The two unfinished landscapes illustrate how the artist painted confidently directly on to paper with oils, sometimes with pencil underdrawing.

Dimensions

30.5 x 44.6 cm

Price on application





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The BADA Standard

  • Since 1918, BADA has been the leading association for the antiques and fine art trade
  • Members are elected for their knowledge, integrity and quality of stock
  • Our clients are protected by BADA’s code of conduct
  • Our dealers’ membership is reviewed and renewed annually
  • Bada.org is a non-profit site: clients deal directly with members and they pay no hidden fees
Click here for more information on the BADA Standard