River Landscape with a Bridge and a Church
Medium
black chalk with white gouache on laid paper
Dimensions
overall: 28.5 x 34.5 cm (11 1/4 x 13 9/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mimi and Sanford Feld
Accession Number
2005.143.5
Art Historical Context
Thomas Gainsborough's *River with a Bridge and a Church* (1781) invites viewers into a tranquil English countryside scene, where a winding river, arched bridge, and distant church steeple evoke the gentle harmony of nature. Crafted late in the artist's career, this drawing on laid paper measures a modest 28.5 x 34.5 cm, making it an intimate study perfect for contemplation. Now housed in the National Gallery of Art's CG-E department as a generous gift from Mimi and Sanford Feld, it showcases Gainsborough's lifelong passion for landscapes amid his fame as a portraitist. Renowned for his fluid ...
About the Artist
Thomas Gainsborough · 1727–1788
Thomas Gainsborough was born on 14 May 1727 in Sudbury, Suffolk, the youngest of nine children to wool dealer John Gainsborough and his wife Mary. Demonstrating prodigious talent from childhood, he sketched landscapes in the local woods and fields, fostering his lifelong passion for the genre. At age thirteen, he moved to London, where he trained under the French engraver and illustrator Hubert-Fr...