Mountain Landscape with Bridge, c. 1783/1784

Provenance

Mrs. Thomas Gainsborough; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 10-11 April 1797, 2nd day, no. 69);[1] Sir John Fleming Leicester [1762-1827], Bt., later 1st baron de Tabley [1762-1827], Tabley House, Cheshire. Lady Lindsay;[2] purchased by (Asher Wertheimer, London). Sir Edgar Vincent, Bt., later 1st viscount D'Abernon [1857-1941], Esher and Stoke D'Abernon, Surrey, by 1912; purchased 1929 by (Duveen Brothers, Inc., London, New York, and Paris);;[3] purchased 26 April 1937 by The A.W. Mellon Educational and Charitable Trust, Pittsburgh; gift 1937 to NGA.

Exhibition History

1926

The Second Loan Exhibition of Old Masters: British Paintings of the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries, Detroit Institute of Arts, 1926, no. 9, repro.

1929

Exposition Rétrospective de Peinture Anglaise (XVIIIe et XIXe siècles), Musée Moderne, Brussels, 1929, no. 66.

1930

Eighteenth Century English Painting, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1930, no. 23.

1931

Landscape Painting, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut, 1931, no. 61, repro.

1931

Paintings and Drawings by Thomas Gainsborough, R.A., Cincinnati Art Museum, 1931, no. 22, pl. 42.

1933

Century of Progress: Exhibition of Paintings and Sculpture, Chicago World's Fair, Art Institute of Chicago, 1933, no. 192, repro.

1980

Thomas Gainsborough, Tate Gallery, London, 1980-1981, no. 148, repro.

1981

Gainsborough, Grand Palais, Paris, 1981, no. 71, repro.

1993

Glorious Nature: British Landscape Painting, 1750-1850, Denver Art Museum, 1993-1994, no. 16, repro.

2002

Thomas Gainsborough, 1727-1788, Tate Britain, London; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2002-2003, no. 146, repro.

Technical Summary

The medium-fine canvas is plain woven; it has been lined. The ground is dark pinkish brown; although thinly applied it contributes substantially to the overall tonality, especially in areas of the sky and background mountains, where the overlying paint has been applied very thinly. The painting is executed in thin, fluid layers except in the highlights, with fairly short, pronounced brushstrokes. The sky has been extensively repainted except in the clouds, probably due to severe abrasion. The thinly applied natural resin varnish has discolored yellow to a considerable degree.

Bibliography

1941

Preliminary Catalogue of Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1941: 72, no. 107, as Landscape with a Bridge.

1942

Book of Illustrations. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1942: 241, repro. 14, as Landscape with a Bridge.

1949

Paintings and Sculpture from the Mellon Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1949 (reprinted 1953 and 1958): 122, repro., as Landscape with a Bridge.

1952

Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds., Great Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1952: 132, color repro., as Landscape with a Bridge.

1957

Shapley, Fern Rusk. Comparisons in Art: A Companion to the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. London, 1957 (reprinted 1959): pl. 144, as Landscape with a Bridge.

1958

Waterhouse, Sir Ellis. Gainsborough. London, 1958, no. 1008, pl. 287. Reprint. 1966, color repro.

1960

Cooke, Hereward Lester. British Painting in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1960 (Booklet Number Eight in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 28, color repro., as Landscape with Bridge.

1962

Hall, Douglas. "The Tabley House Paper." Walpole Society 38 (1962): 70, 114.

1963

Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 319, repro.

1965

Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 54, as Landscape with a Bridge.

1966

Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:352, color repro.

1968

Cooke, Hereward Lester. Painting Lessons from the Great Masters. London, 1968: 46, fig. 32; 138, detail repro., color repro. opp.

1968

Gandolfo, Giampaolo et al. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Great Museums of the World. New York, 1968: 14.

1968

National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 46, repro., as Landscape with Bridge.

1975

European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 142, repro., as Landscape with Bridge.

1975

Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1975: no. 498, color repro.

1979

Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 93, pl. 81.

1982

Hayes, John. The Landscape Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough. 2 vols. London and New York, 1982: 1:145, 147, 171, 231, pls. 179, 203; 2: no. 151, repro.

1984

Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 357, no. 496, color repro., as Landscape with Bridge.

1985

European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 165, repro.

1992

Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 97-99, color repro. 99.

2004

Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 276, no. 222, color repro.

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