Wooded Landscape with Peasant Reading Tombstone, Rustic Lovers and Ruined Church
August 1, 1797
Medium
Soft-ground etching and aquatint, hand-colored; fourth state of four
Dimensions
plate: 12 13/16 x 15 1/2 in. (32.5 x 39.4 cm) sheet: 14 1/4 x 17 1/4 in. (36.2 x 43.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1942
Accession Number
42.27.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the enchanting *Wooded Landscape with Pe Reading Tombstone, Rust Lovers and Ruined Church Thomas Gainsborough's picturesque vision comes alive through a masterful print published by John and Josiah Boydell on August1, 1797. Though Gainsborough, the celebrated 18th-century English Rococo master known for his fluid landscapes and portraits, had passed away nearly a decade earlier, this work reproduces his evocative original painting. The scene unfolds in a lush, wooded setting dominated by a crumbling Gothic church ruin—a nod to the Romantic fascination with nature's sublime reclaiming human ...
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...