Artist: Sir Thomas Gainsborough (English, (baptised 1727 – 1788)
Title: The Cart Waggon (Sunset: Carthorses Drinking at a Stream)
Medium: Antique steel engraving on wove paper after the original oil on canvas by Master Engraver W. R. Smith.
Signature: Signed in the plate.
Dimensions: Image Size – 4 7/8 x 5 3/4 inches.
Framed Dimensions: Approximately 14 x 15 inches.
Framing: This piece has been professionally matted and framed using all new materials.
Sunset: Carthorses Drinking at a Stream is one of several paintings by Gainsborough on the theme of peasants going to or from market. The family here are travelling home in a country wagon and are shown in a moment of repose after the labours of the day; the drover on the footbridge halts by a stream to allow the horses to quench their thirst. The landscape is bathed in a warm, golden light and the glowing sunset adds a suitable poetic note to the tranquil scene.
Thomas Gainsborough was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. He surpassed his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds to become the dominant British portraitist of the second half of the 18th century. He painted quickly, and the works of his maturity are characterized by a light palette and easy strokes. He preferred landscapes to portraits, and is credited (with Richard Wilson) as the originator of the 18th-century British landscape school. Gainsborough was a founding member of the Royal Academy.