Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788)
Landscape with Cattle Crossing a Bridge, ca. 1785
Oil over black chalk with white chalk highlights on laid paper
8 5/8 x 12 5/16 in. (21.9 x 31.3 cm)
Purchased by Henry Clay Frick, 1913
This picturesque, hilly landscape is reminiscent of northwest England’s Lake District, a popular tourist destination to which Gainsborough first traveled in 1783. Applying layers of oil paint and varnish, he transforms the sheet into a small painting.