LOT DETAILS

Materials:

oil on canvas

Measurements:

47.95 in. (121.80 cm.) (height) by 57.95 in. (147.20 cm.) (width)

Exhibited:

London, British Institution,. Pictures by the late William Hogarth, Richard Wilson, Thomas Gainsborough and J. Zoffani , 1814, no. 36;. London, Royal Academy, Works of the Old Masters , 1870, no. 124; . London, Arts Council, Thomas Gainsborough , 1949, no. 12; . Nottingham, University Art Gallery, Landscapes by Thomas Gainsborough , 1962, no. 18; . London Royal Academy, Bicentenary Exhibition , 1968, no. 143; . Paris, Petit Palais, La Peinture Romantique Anglaise et les Préraphaélites , 1972, no. 124; . Milan, Palazzo Reale, British Council, Pittura Inglese 1660/1840 , 1975, no. 51; . Munich, Haus der Kunst, Zwei Jahrhunderte Englische Malerei; Bristische Kunst und Europa 1680 bis 1880 , 1979-80, no. 35; . Paris, Grand Palais, Gainsborough , 1981, no. 45; . London, Tate Gallery, New Displays at the Tate , December 1995 - 24 January 1998; . Bath, Victoria Art Gallery, Gainsborough in Bath , 26 January - 30 May 1998; . Ferrara, Palazzo dei Diamanti, Thomas Gainsborough , 6 June 1998 - 30 August 1998; . Sudbury, Gainsborough's House, Gainsborough at Sudbury , 7 September 1998 - 2 September 1999; . London, Tate Britain, Gainsborough , 24 October 2002 - 19 January 2003, no. 115; . Washington, National Gallery of Art, Gainsborough , 9 February - 11 May 2003, no. 115; . Boston, Museum of Fine Arts, Gainsborough , 9 June - 14 September 2003, no. 115

Literature:

Indenture , dated 27 January 1784,Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office MS, 383 / 714, listing the present painting hanging in the Picture Gallery at Stourhead; . W. Gilpin, Observations on the Western Parts of England , London 1798, p. 119 (listed among the pictures 'admired most' at Stourhead); . Anonymous, A description of the House and Gardens at Stourhead , Salisbury 1800, p. 14; . J. Britton, The Beauties of Wiltshire , 3 vols, London 1801, vol. II, p. 8, listed as hanging in the Cabinet Room at Stourhead: 'a well finished and masterly performance of this eccentric, but great English artist'; . Rev. R. Warner, Excursions from Bath , Bath 1801, p. 97; . Catalogue of the Pictures, Prints.. etc at Stourhead , 3 February 1808, Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office MS 383/ 715, listed as: 'Peasants and Colliers By Gainsborough', hanging in the Cabinet Room at Stourhead; . P. Hoare, Epochs of the Arts , London 1813, pp. 76-77, note; . R. Colt Hoare, A description of the house and gardens at Stourhead , Bath 1818, p. 14; . J. P. Neale, Views of seats of noblemen and gentlemen , 5 vols., London 1822, vol. V, unpaginated; . Inventory of heirlooms at Stourhead , Hoare MS, 1838, Hoare's Bank, Fleet Street, London, listed as: 'Peasants and Colliers riding to Market at dawn of day'; . Anonymous, Catalogue of the Hoare Library at Stourhead , London 1840, p. 742; . G.F. Waagen, Treasures of Art in Great Britain , 3 vols., London 1854, vol. III, p. 173; . G. W. Fulcher, Life of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A. , London 1856, p. 199; . W. Armstrong, Gainsborough & his place in English Art , London 1898, p. 206; . J. Climenson (ed.), Passages from the diaries of Mrs Philip Lybbe Powys , London 1899, p. 173 (recording seeing the painting on her visit to Stourhead in August 1776); . W. Armstrong, Gainsborough & his place in English Art , London 1904, p. 287; . W. T. Whitley, Thomas Gainsborough , London 1915, p. 358; . M. Woodall, Gainsborough's landscape drawings , London 1939, pp. 49, 50, 55, 110, reproduced, pl. 50; . M. Woodall, Thomas Gainsborough: His life and work , London 1949, pp. 93-94 ; . E. Waterhouse, Painting in Britain 1530-1790 , Harmondsworth 1953, p. 188; . E. Waterhouse, Gainsborough , London 1958, p. 25, no. 911, reproduced pl. 115; . Landscapes by Thomas Gainsborough , exh. cat., Nottingham 1962, no. 18, reproduced; . M. Woodall, 'Gainsborough Landscapes at Nottingham University', in The Burlington Magazine , December 1962, p. 562; . J. Hayes, 'Gainsborough and Rubens', Apollo , vol. 78, August 1963, pp. 92-93, reproduced fig. 8; . J. Hayes, 'Gainsborough', in J ournal of the Royal Society of Arts , April 1965, pp. 321 and 324; . J. Hayes, The Drawings of Thomas Gainsborough , 2 vols, London and New Haven 1970, pp. 17, 68, 225, 300, reproduced pls 301 (detail) and 369; . J. Hayes, Gainsborough as a printmake r, London 1971, p. 43; . L. Herrmann, British landscape painting in the eighteenth century , London 1973, p. 97; . D. Sutton, 'Realms of Enjoyment', in Apollo , November 1973, p. 337, reproduced fig. 10; . La Peinture Romantique Anglaise et les Préraphaélites , exh. cat., Petit Palais, Paris 1972, cat. no. 124, reproduced; . J. Hayes, Gainsborough. Paintings and Drawings , Oxford 1975, p. 217, no. 80, reproduced pl. 115; . Pittura Inglese 1660/1840 , exh. cat., British Council, Milan 1975, no. 51; . T. Clifford, A. Griffiths and M. Royalton-Kisch, Gainsborough and Reynolds in the British Museum , exh. cat., London 1978, p. 20; . Zwei Jahrhunderte Englische Malerei; Bristische Kunst und Europa 1680 bis 1880 , exh. cat., Munich, 1979-80, cat. no. 35, reproduced in colour p. 29; . J. Barrell, The dark side of the landscape , Cambridge 1980, pp. 53-54, reproduced; . D. Gordon, Second Sight: Rubens: The Watering Place / Gainsborough: The Watering Place , exh. cat., National Gallery, London 1981, p. 17, reproduced fig. 17; . J. Lindsay, Thomas Gainsborough: His life and art , London 1981, p. 114; . Gainsborough , P. Rosenberg and J. Hayes (eds), exh. cat., Grand Palais, Paris 1981, pp. 138-39, cat. no. 45, reproduced p. 139, and in colour p. 74; . G. Waterfield, 'Winning Parisian Hearts', in Country Life , 16 April 1981, p. 1051, reproduced fig. 4; . J. Hayes, The Landscape Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough , 2 vols, London 1982, vol. I, pp. 110, 112-13, 115-16, 120, 148 and 167, reproduced fig. 182 (detail), vol. II, pp. 451-52, cat. no. 107, reproduced; . J. Chapel, Victorian Taste: The complete catalogue of paintings at the Royal Holloway College , London 1982, pp. 13 and 92-93, reproduced in colour pl. 62; . M. Levey, 'The Genius of Gainsborough', in Christie's International Magazine , October 1990, p. 5, reproduced in colour; . J. Hayes, The Holloway Gainsborough , London 1995, extensively reproduced in colour; . S. Sloman, 'The Holloway Gainsborough: Its subject re-examined', in G ainsborough's House Review , 1997/8, pp. 47-48; . M. Rosenthal, The Art of Thomas Gainsborough , New Haven and London 1999, pp. 204-05, reproduced in colour pl. 203; . Gainsborough , M. Rosenthal and M. Myrone (eds), exh. cat., Tate, London 2002, p. 217, cat. no. 115, reproduced in colour; . S. Sloman, Gainsborough's landscapes . Themes and variations , exh. cat., Holburne, Bath 2011, pp. 54, 57 and 59 n. 15

Provenance:

Purchased from the artist by his banker, Henry Hoare (1705-1785), of Stourhead, Wiltshire, for 80 guineas, on 6 July 1773;. By descent to his grandson, Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 2nd Bt (1758-1838); . Thence by descent in the Hoare family at Stourhead until sold; . Stourhead Heirlooms sale, London, Christie's, 2 June 1883, lot 16, to Martin on behalf of Thomas Holloway (1800-1883) for Royal Holloway College, London; . From whom acquired in 1993 for the present collection