Wooded Landscape with a Peasant Reading a Tombstone, Rustic Lovers and a Ruined Church
August 1, 1797
Medium
Soft-ground etching; third state
Dimensions
Plate containing image: 11 11/16 x 14 3/4 in. (29.7 x 37.4 cm) Sheet: 15 13/16 x 19 5/16 in. (40.2 x 49.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Charles Z. Offin Fund, Mr. and Mrs. Frank E. Richardson Gift, and funds from various donors, 2004
Accession Number
2004.413
Tags
Art Historical Context
This evocative soft-ground etching captures a tranquil yet melancholic wooded landscape, where a peasant pauses to read an inscription on a tombstone amid rustic lovers and the crumbling remains of a church. Created by Thomas Gainsborough and published by John and Josiah Boydell on August 1, 1797, the print reflects the artist’s deep affinity for the English countryside. Gainsborough, celebrated for both his portraits and poetic landscapes, often infused his scenes with emotional resonance and a sense of fleeting time. The medium of soft-ground etching allows the image to retain the delicate,...
About the Artist
Thomas Gainsborough|John & Josiah Boydell · 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...