Wooded Landscape with Two Country Carts and Figures
August 1, 1797
Medium
Soft-ground etching, printed in gray ink; second state of two
Dimensions
plate: 11 9/16 x 15 9/16 in. (29.4 x 39.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1949
Accession Number
49.95.62
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Wooded Landscape with Two Carts and Figures** a captivating soft-ground etching after Thomas Gainsborough, the celebrated 18th-century English Rococo master known for his luminous landscapes and portraits. Created and published by John and Josiah Boydell on August1, 1797—this being the second state of two print captures Gainsborough's poetic vision of rural England. Printed in subtle gray ink on a plate measuring 11 9/16 x 15 9/16 inches, it depicts wooded scene alive with two country carts and figures, evoking the idyllic countryside that fascinated Romantic-era viewers. Soft-ground etchin...
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...