Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.305
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
cows | cattle | landscape | bridge | banks | stream | hills | trees | town | figures | men | woman | people
Associated Places:
United Kingdom | England | England | Avon
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
Connections (Yale Center for British Art, 2011-05-26 - 2011-09-11)An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29)An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Royal Academy of Arts, 2007-10-20 - 2008-01-27)Sensation and Sensibility: Viewing Gainsborough's " Cottage Door " (Yale Center for British Art, 2005-10-06 - 2005-12-31)Sensation and Sensibility: Viewing Gainsborough's " Cottage Door " (The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 2006-02-11 - 2006-05-14)This Other Eden : British Paintings from the Paul Mellon Collection at Yale (Art Gallery of New South Wales, 1998-05-01 - 1998-07-05)This Other Eden : British Paintings from the Paul Mellon Collection at Yale (Queensland Art Gallery, 1998-07-15 - 1998-09-06)This Other Eden : British Paintings from the Paul Mellon Collection at Yale (Art Gallery of South Australia, 1998-09-16 - 1998-11-15)British Landscape Exhibition (Japan) (Isetan Museum of Art, 1992-09-17 - 1992-10-20)British Landscape Exhibition (Japan) (Daimaru Museum of Art, 1993-03-10 - 1993-03-29)British Landscape Exhibition (Japan) (Ohita Prefectural Art Hall, 1992-10-24 - 1992-11-15)British Landscape Exhibition (Japan) (Koriyama City Museum of Art, 1992-11-21 - 1993-01-17)British Landscape Exhibition (Japan) (Hiroshima Museum of Art, 1993-01-23 - 1993-03-07)British Landscape Exhibition (Japan) (Mie Prefectural Art Museum, 1993-04-10 - 1993-05-09)Thomas Gainsborough (Tate) (Tate Britain, 1980-10-07 - 1981-01-04)Thomas Gainsborough (Tate) (Musée du Louvre, 1981-02-07 - 1981-04-26)
Publications:
Amal Asfour, Gainsborough's vision, Liverpool University Press, Liverpool [England], 1999, p. 189, no. 112, NJ18 G16 A74 1999 (YCBA)John Baskett, Paul Mellon's Legacy: a Passion for British Art: Masterpieces from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, pp. 257-258, no. 37, pl. 37, N5220 M552 P38 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Isetan Bijutsukan, Eikoku fåukeiga ten =, British landscape paintings from the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge , Tenrankai Katarogu Iinkai, Tokyo, Japan, 1992, pp. 36-37, no. 6, ND1354.5 E5 1992 (YCBA)David Brenneman, Thomas Gainsborough's Wooded Landscape with Cattle by a Pool, Art Criticism and the Royal Academy , Gainsborough's House Review, 1995-1996, pp. 38-39, fig 8, N1494 G25 (YCBA)British Art at Yale, Apollo, vol.105, April 1977, p. 287, fig. 5, N1 .A54 + OVERSIZE (YCBA)Christie's sale catalogue : Catalogue of the small but highly important collection of modern pictures : 19 May 1866, Christie's, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, May 19, 1866, p. 8, Lot 38, Fiche B51, Fiche# 0026 (YCBA) Also available online " Art Sales Catalogues Online - Lugt # 29147Christie's sale catalogue: Catalogue of the Important Collection of Ancient and Modern Paintings and Water-colour Drawings : 10 May 1878, Christie's, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, May 10, 1878, p. 32, Lot 239, Fiche B51 (YCBA) Also Available online : Art Sales Catalogues Online - Lugt # 38377Malcolm Cormack, A Selective Promenade, Apollo, vol.105, April 1977, p. 287, fig. 5, N1 A54 + (YCBA)Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 98-99, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA)Malcolm Cormack, The paintings of Thomas Gainsborough, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, New York, 1991, p. 114, NJ18 G16 C66 1991 (YCBA)G. W. Fulcher, Life of Thomas Gainsborough., Longman, London, 1856, p. 238, NJ18 G16 F85 (YCBA)Gainsborough, 1727-1788, Grand Palais, 6 fâevrier-27 avril 1981. , Editions Réunion des Musées Nationaux, Paris, 1981, p. 140, No. 46, NJ18 G16 H393 (YCBA)John T. Hayes, Gainsborough: paintings and drawings, Phaidon, London New York, 1975, p. 217, no. 83, pl. 109, NJ18 G16 H395 + (YCBA)John T. Hayes, The drawings of Thomas Gainsborough, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven London, 1971, p. 194 (v.1), no. 368 (v.1), pl. 282 (v. 2), NJ18 G16 H39 + (YCBA)John T. Hayes, The landscape paintings of Thomas Gainsborough, a critical text and catalogue raisonné , Sotheby Publications, London, 1982, pp. 452-55 (v.2), v. 2, no. 108, pl. 151 (v. 1), NJ18 G16 A12 H39 1982 + OVERSIZE (YCBA)John T. Hayes, Thomas Gainsborough, Tate Publishing, [S.l., 1980, pp. 121-22, no. 114, fig. 114, NJ18 G16 H48 (YCBA)Jack Lindsay, Thomas Gainsborough, his life and art , Granada, London, 1981, p. 108, NJ18 G16 L55 1981 (YCBA)Julia Marciari-Alexander, This other Eden : Paintings from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1998, pp. 14, 82-83, no. 28, fig. 13, ND1314.3 Y36 1998 (YCBA)Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v.3, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Ronald Paulson, Emblem and expression, meaning in English art of the eighteenth century , Thames and Hudson, London, 1975, p. 247, NX543 P38 (YCBA)Meredyth Proby, Remarkable Connoisseur, Country Life, June 1990, p. 256, S3 C68 + (YCBA)Michael Rosenthal, The art of Thomas Gainsborough, "a little business for the eye" , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1999, p. 45, pl. 50, NJ18 G16 R67 1999 (YCBA)Angus Trumble, Object Lesson, Two kandscapes by Gainsborough , Yale Alumni Magazine, v. 69, no, 1, September/October, 2005, p. 58, Yh10 +A2 (SML Mss & Arvives AND LSF) Also available online at www.yalealumnimagazine.comEllis Waterhouse, Gainsborough, Spring Books, London, 1966, p. 112, no. 890, pl. 81, NJ18 G16 A12 W28 1966 + OVERSIZE (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
Although best known for his portraits, Thomas Gainsborough’s passion was for landscapes. He once dreamed of retiring to “some sweet Village where I can paint Landskips [sic] and enjoy the fag End of life in quietness and ease.” After moving to Bath in 1759, his landscapes became increasingly idealized, often made from models laid out on tabletops and inspired by the work of the painters Claude Lorrain and Peter Paul Rubens. This twilight scene, painted in Bath shortly before Gainsborough moved to London, draws on the example of both artists to create an idyllic landscape bathed in golden light. The milkmaid and her lover in the foreground seem unhurried and entirely at ease as they flirt at the end of the day, as if they are at one with nature with no need to work—a far cry from the reality of life for eighteenth-century milkmaids and shepherd boys.\n\n Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2016