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| A sketch for Cornard Wood? |
On the BBC Today Programme this morning we heard the very
exciting news that a folder of drawings at Windsor Castle,
previously attributed to Landseer, has
been identified as containing early works by Thomas Gainsborough.
Art expert, Lindsay Stainton, who is a good friend of
Gainsborough’s House in Sudbury, made the connection when she noticed the
similarity between one of the drawings and the painting of Cornard Wood which
currently hangs in the National Gallery in London.
When schoolchildren visit Gainsborough’s House they are told
about how Gainsborough went about creating his landscape paintings. He did not sit and draw them from life in the open air, but would sketch small parts while out and about and then create a complete and
considered image once he was back in his studio. Children are invited to attempt the same sort
of assemblies using large stones and broccoli etc.
These new discoveries will facilitate more research into the
creation of the landscapes, which Gainsborough claimed were the pictures he
most enjoyed painting. Unfortunately
portrait painting was a lot more lucrative for him, and he often gave his
landscapes away to friends. In addition to the sketches from nature there is also a small sketch of a woman who could be his wife, Margaret Burr.
There is an interesting clip about the recent discovery on
the BBC website HERE.
Her Majesty the Queen has been very generous in the past in
lending her Gainsboroughs, and other works, to Gainsborough’s House for display in temporary exhibitions. Let’s hope that these new discoveries will be
able to make a journey back to the home of their creation in the not too
distant future.
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