Gainsborough Landscapes at Compton Verney

Compton Verney from the bridge

Just before the Jubilee excitements Nick and I went over to Compton Verney in Warwickshire.  We were just in time to catch the final days of the current exhibition,  Gainsborough Landscapes, Themes and Variations. 

 The gallery and museum at Compton Verney, which is not far from Stratford upon Avon, was created some years ago by the Littlewoods heir, Peter Moores.  It is housed in an eighteenth century mansion which was saved from dereliction.  The grounds, good restaurant and interesting permanent collection make for a good day out in the lovely Warwickshire countryside.

Although the exhibition is quite small it includes some works of very high quality.  It was interesting to see some of the painter's key landscape paintings set in context with related drawings and other works.  I am pleased to say that Gainsborough's House in Sudbury had lent a drawing to the show.

Gainsborough always said that landscape was his first love, but unfortunately there was not the market for landscape pictures as there was for his portraits.

On view was one of my favorite Gainsborough 'fancy pictures', Girl with Pigs, shown below.  I always wonder what she is thinking about!  Perhaps the pig's lunch of milk is rather better than the one that she is anticipating.