- Gainsborough (1727-1788), Thomas
- Four Cattle at a Pool
- c.1785
- Drawing
- Coloured chalks with stump on buff paper
- 15.2x24.8 cm
- Inv. Nr. 1996.068
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In this impressionistically rendered scene, a group of cattle and a horse are depicted standing in a hollow in the landscape. The composition is bracketed on either side by the boughs of windswept trees and is anchored in the centre with the cotton-like forms of cumulous clouds. The strong sense of formal dynamism and variety of tone is characteristic of Gainsborough's later drawings.
The work is notable for its economical use of chalk, which allows the buff paper support to provide a coloured ground. Gainsborough's experimentation with the focal point is an equally prominent feature. The tree on the right, which is rendered with thin lines of black chalk, provides a contrast to the hazy bodies of the animals beyond; the cattle that stand further to the left, and closer to our viewpoint, are brought into sharper relief through the use of a bright red chalk which contrasts with the white clouds they are offset against. - Purchased with an anonymous donation given through the National Art Collections Fund and the Gainsborough's House Society Development Trust, June 1996
