Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Thomas Gainsborough: Experiments in Drawing

May 11 through August 19, 2018

The eighteenth-century British master Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) is celebrated for his portraiture and for his depictions of rural landscapes. Although he was best known as a painter, he was also a draftsman of rare ability. Gainsborough experimented with various media to sketch preparatory studies, finished works, and in some cases exercises for his own enjoyment. Thomas Gainsborough: Experiments in Drawing brings together more than twenty works primarily from the Morgan’s collection that reveal the artist’s technical innovations, his mastery of materials, and his development of a new and original mode of drawing.

Thomas Gainsborough: Experiments in Drawing is sponsored by Lowell Libson & Jonny Yarker Ltd. and generously supported by Mr. and Mrs. Clement C. Moore II and the Eugene V. and Clare E. Thaw Charitable Trust.

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Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788), Lady Walking in a Garden, ca. 1785, black and white chalk with smudging, worked wet and dry, watercolor, on laid paper, purchased by Pierpont Morgan in 1909. The Morgan Library & Museum, III, 63b. Photography by Steven H. Crossot, 2014.

Publication

Selected Images

A Boy with a Book and a Spade, 1748, graphite with smudging, on laid paper, purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909, The Morgan Library & Museum, III 59b. Photography by Steven H. Crossot, 2014.

Wooded Landscape with Cottage, Cowherd, and Cow, ca. 1750, graphite,with smudging, on laid paper, purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837- 1913) in 1909, The Morgan Library & Museum, III 51. Photography by Steven H. Crossot, 2014.

Landscape with Horse and Cart, and Ruin, ca. 1770, oil paint, lead white chalk, watercolor, over black chalk, varnished, on laid paper, varnished; purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909, The Morgan Library & Museum, III 55. Photography by Steven H. Crossot, 2014.

An Open Landscape at Dusk, 1770s, watercolor, with white chalk. Private collection.

Study of a Woman Holding a Shawl, 1765–70, black chalk with smudging, oil-soaked chalk, on laid paper, purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909, The Morgan Library & Museum, III 57. Photography by Steven H. Crossot, 2014.

Portrait of a Lady, 1760-5, black and white chalk, with smudging, on blue paper. Private collection, Digital imaging courtesy of The Morgan Library & Museum. Photography by Graham S. Haber, 2017.

Caroline, 4th Duchess of Marlborough, ca. 1770, pastels on green-brown paper. Private collection. Photography by Alex Jamison.

Lady Walking in a Garden, ca. 1785, black and white chalk with smudging, worked wet and dry, watercolor, on laid paper, purchased by Pierpont Morgan in 1909. The Morgan Library & Museum, III, 63b. Photography by Steven H. Crossot, 2014.

A Woman and Three Children, 1780-5, black chalk with smudging, and white chalk, some applied wet, on tan laid paper purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837- 1913) in 1909, The Morgan Library & Museum, III 59. Photography by Steven H. Crossot, 2014.

Wooded Landscape with Horseman, Figures, and Bridge, ca. 1780, black chalk with smudging, opaque lead white, on laid paper, purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909, The Morgan Library & Museum. Photography by Steven H. Crossot, 2014.

Hilly Landscape with Cows on the Road, ca. 1780, black chalk with smudging, white chalk applied wet, on wove paper, purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909, The Morgan Library & Museum, III 62. Photography by Steven H. Crossot, 2014.

Landscape with Horse and Cart Descending a Hill, ca. 1780, black chalk with smudging, on wove paper, purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909, The Morgan Library & Museum. Photography by Steven H. Crossot, 2014.

Wooded Landscape with Cows beside a Pool, Figures and Cottage, ca. 1780, soft-grounded etching with acquatint, printed in gray ink, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1937.

Figures in a Wooded Landscape, 1785–88, black chalk, black ink wash, with white chalk, worked wet, heightened with white. Private collection.