A wooded valley landscape with a shepherd and his flock in the foreground

This drawing was listed in Hayes 1970 catalogue raisonne as 'Whereabouts unknown', and this is the first time it has appeared since. Dated to the later 1780s, it is a rare example of the artist's use of colour in a late drawing, a technique he experimented with more in the 1770s.
Gainsborough drawings were experiments in composition and his diverse arrangements of trees, pools, sheep, track and cottages were frequently rearranged to form lilting landscapes, something 'easy for the eye' as he called the effect in one letter. He used soft chalk, sometimes blurred to form tone with the use of the stump - a densely rolled piece of card or leather - which imitates wash. In the 1780s he used dense black chalk often very thickly which gives the drawings a power which had not been seen in his earlier work.
George Rushout (1811-1887), 3rd Baron Northwick, inherited his uncle's impressive collection of Old Master paintings, drawings and sculpture in the family home, Northwick Park, near Moreton-in-Marsh.
We are grateful to Hugh Belsey for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.