Gainsborough Dupont – Wooded Landscape with Shepherd and Sheep c.1788
soft-ground etching with aquatint, 28.7 x 37.5 cm
Unframed – Price £350
Final State. Impression from 2nd published edition without John Boydell’s 1797 publication line – published by Tate on Barcham Green ‘Penshurst’ rag paper.
Reference: Hayes 13
This plate is one of a collection of Thomas Gainsborough’s prints that were not formally published in his lifetime; nor is there any record of there being so. This printing represents the first and only publication of the original plate. It was produced in collaboration with the Tate Gallery, London, in an edition of 75 in 1971. This plate, and those of the other prints of this project, entered the Tate’s permanent collection immediately afterwards.
Originally cited as being by Thomas Gainsborough, as it was when I purchased it in 2011, this print has been re-attributed to his nephew Gainsborough Dupont who had taken the Gainsborough name as his own. As stated in the Curators Comments on the British Museum web site:
In line with John Hayes’ catalogue, this was previously described as by Gainsbough but as Sue Sloman points out (email February 2021) it must post-date his death in 1788 as the plate for it in the Tate bears the stamp of the coppersmith firm Jones and Pontifex who traded from 1788-93 (see their trade card D,2.1144/ PPA191836). She suggests that it might be the work of Gainsborough’s nephew Gainsborough Dupont. (See British Museum 1852,0705.270)
This print was not included in Boydell’s publication in 1797. The soft ground drawing at the centre on the right failed to transfer to the plate; the gap was later disguised by the aquatint wash. Dated by Hayes to the mid 1780s, although possibly as early as the middle or later 1770s, the date has had to be re-assessed to around 1788 in light of Sue Sloman’s research.
Condition: Paper is in perfect condition. a horizontal stain line above image top right within plate mark; remains of foxing above image, within plate, and one spot in upper left section of image. None affects the look of the print. Inspect images closely.