Thomas Gainsborough
Coastal Scene with Shipping and Cattle

CultureBritish
Titles
  • Coastal Scene with Shipping and Cattle
Datec. 1781–82
PlaceEngland
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsCanvas: 30 × 25 in. (76.2 × 63.5 cm)
Frame: 37 1/8 × 32 1/8 × 2 5/8 in. (94.3 × 81.6 × 6.7 cm)
Credit LineSarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, Houston
Object numberBF.1985.17
Current Location
The Audrey Jones Beck Building
218 Blaffer Galleries
On view

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Object Type
Description

“Portraiture is my profession. Landscape is my pleasure.” These are the words of Thomas Gainsborough, a contemporary and rival of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Gainsborough was not only one of the great 18th-century British portraitists but also an accomplished and passionate landscape painter.

In the early 1780s, Gainsborough painted several imaginary shore scenes. Demonstrating the artist's fascination with 17th-century Dutch landscape painting, they are nonetheless painted in his distinctive and personal late style, with thin washes and light tones. This example, Coastal Scene with Shipping and Cattle, was copied at least three times, attesting to the popularity of the composition


ProvenancePeter Delmé (1748–1789); [his sale, Christie’s, London, February 13, 1790, lot 16, as "A Sea Port with Cattle and Figures"]; Sir Charles Long (1760–1838), later First Baron Farnborough, England; by descent, Samuel Long; [his sale, Christie’s, London, March 11, 1882, lot 155, purchased by Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London, 1882]; James Price; [Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London, 1889]; Sir Charles Clow Tennant (1823–1906), 1st Baronet, 1890; by descent to the Honorable Colin Tennant, until 1982; [Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd., London]; purchased by the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, 1985.

Exhibition History“Masterpieces of European Painting from the 15th to 20th Centuries from The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation," The Museum of Art, Ehime, Matsuyama, Japan, April 13–May 30, 1999; Chiba Prefectural Art Museum, Japan, June 5–July 11, 1999; Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan, July 17–August 22, 1999; Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan, August 27–October 3, 1999.

"British Paintings 1550–1800 from the Collection of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation," Ellen Noël Art Museum, Odessa, Texas, November 13, 2010–January 10, 2011.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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