Repose
Framed: 57 1/2 × 68 1/4 × 4 inches (146.05 × 173.36 × 10.16 cm)
- 124
Possibly The Exhibition of the Royal Academy, M.DCC.LXXX, The Twelfth, Somerset House, London, 1780, no. 197.
Probably The Pictures and Drawings of the Late Mr. Gainsborough: Including those Works of the Old Masters, which he had Collected with Great Attention, Schomberg House, London, opened March 30, 1789, no. 64.
Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, and English Masters, with which the Proprietors Have Favoured the Institution, British Institution, London, June 1829, no. 169, as Cattle in a Landscape.
Exhibition of Works by The Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School; Including a Collection of Water Colour Drawings, Studies, and Sketches from Nature, Royal Academy, Burlington House, London, January 4-March 12, 1892, no. 142, as Repose: A Landscape, with Cattle.
Loan Collection of Paintings, Water Colours and Engravings, The Victoria Art Galleries, Dundee, Scotland, 1912, no. 283, as Repose.
The Horse in Art: Paintings, 17th to 20th Century, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, July-August 1954; California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, August-September 1954; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, October-November 1954, no. 9.
The Century of Mozart, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, January 15-March 4, 1956, no. 38.
Gainsborough: 1727-1788, Tate Gallery, London, October 8, 1980-January 4, 1981; Grand Palais, Paris, February 6-April 27, 1981, no. 66, as Repos.
Loose brushwork and the contrast of browns and greens against a cloudy sky convey a rustic English landscape. While the scene may appear realistic, it is probably an imaginary composition based on materials such as twigs, pebbles, and broccoli (as a stand-in for trees). Thomas Gainsborough evoked the hard labor of the rural poor while also representing the landscape that provided a source of prosperity for the painting’s wealthy audience.
With the artist, London, until 1788;
To his widow, Mrs. Thomas Gainsborough (née Margaret Burr, 1726-1798), London, 1788-1798 [1];
By descent to her daughter, Miss Margaret Gainsborough (1752-1820), London, 1798-1818 [2];
Given by Miss Gainsborough to Henry Briggs, London, May 23, 1818- at least 1829 [3];
Purchased from R. Briggs by Joseph Hogarth (b. 1801), London, 1846-1851 [4];
Purchased by his partner, Elhanan Bicknell (1788-1861), London, 1851-1863;
Purchased from Bicknell’s sale, The renowned collection of English pictures and sculpture, of that distinguished patron of art, Elhanan Bicknell, Esq.: deceased, removed from Herne Hill, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, April 25, 1863, lot 91, by Woods Huth, 1863;
Joseph Gillott (1799-1872), no later than 1872;
Purchased from his posthumous sale, The Renowned Collection of Ancient and Modern Pictures and Water-Colour Drawings, of the Well-Known Patron of Art, Joseph Gillott, Esq., Deceased, Removed from his late Residence at Birmingham: With the Sale Prices and Names of the Purchasers, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, April 27, 1872, lot 286, as Repose, through Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, Picture stock book 2, no. 7019, by Kirkman D. Hodgson, Esq. (1814-1879), London, 1872-1891;
Purchased from Hodgson by James Price, 1891-1895;
Purchased from his posthumous sale, The highly important collection of modern pictures, chiefly of the early English School, formed during the last thirty years by that eminent connoisseur, James Price, Esq. deceased: late of Barcombe, Paignton, S. Devon, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, June 15, 1895, lot 79, by Harry Quilter (1851-1907), London, 1895-1906 [5];
Purchased from his sale, The choice collection of important pictures by old masters modern pictures, drawings and engravings of Harry Quilter, Esq., of 42 Queen's Gate Gardens, W., Christie, Manson and Woods, London, April 7, 1906, lot 66, through Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, Picture stock book 8, stock no. 1890, by Frederick Bower Sharp, Esq. (1863-1932), Hill of Tarvit, Fife, Scotland, 1906-1909;
With Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell, London, 1909;
Frederick Bower Sharp, Esq., by 1912-1920;
Purchased from Sharp by Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, stock no. 5702, January 28, 1920-June 23, 1920 [6];
With Sir A. J. Bennett;
With Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, stock no. 7222, February 6, 1931 [7];
Purchased from Agnew by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1931.
NOTES:
[1] The painting featured in two sales after the artist’s death and both times the work failed to sell. The painting was probably in his posthumous sale, The Pictures and Drawings of the Late Mr. Gainsborough: Including those Works of the Old Masters, which he had Collected with Great Attention. The Whole will be Exhibited at his late dwelling-house in Pall-Mall, on Monday, the 30th of March, and following days, Sundays excepted, From Nine in the Morning till Seven in the Evening; and are to be sold by Private Contract by Mr. Gainsborough Dupont, Schomberg House, London, March-May 1789, no. 64, as A Landscape, with Cows and Horses and failed to sell. It was also featured in Mrs. Gainsborough’s sale, The Remainder of the Capital Collection of Pictures, Drawings, etc. of that Ingenious and Esteemed Artist, Mr. Gainsborough, dec.: Comprising Many of his Best Works; Also a Few Capital Pictures by Old Masters, Selected with Great Judgment; Together with a Few Fine Drawings by Himself, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, June 2, 1792, lot 79, and was bought in by Mr. Jackson. See John T. Hayes, The Landscape Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough: A Critical Text and Catalogue Raisonné (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982), 469.
[2] See the codicil to Mrs. Gainsborough’s will, proved on January 10, 1799; see note in NAMA curatorial files.
[3] See her Deed of Gift, May 23, 1818, Birmingham City Art Gallery, England. H. Briggs, Esq. is listed as the lender of the painting to British Institution exhibition in 1829.
[4] Joseph Hogarth went in to business in 1826 as a print publisher and picture frame maker. By 1871, he was working with his sons as a dealer. The picture appeared in a sale at Christie, Manson and Woods, London, on June 13, 1851, lot 100, and was bought in.
[5] The painting appeared at his anonymous sale, The early English pictures of T.M. Whitehead, Esq. ... : Martin Heckscher, Esq. … Captain Garnham, R.N. ... : and an important assemblage of early English pictures from numerous private collections and different sources, Christie, Manson and Woods, London, May 7, 1898, lot 64, and was bought in.
[6] The dates and stock numbers for Thomas Agnew and Sons’ ownership of the painting in 1920 and 1931 are according to Ceri Brough, Archive Assistant, National Gallery London, in an email to MacKenzie Mallon, Specialist, Provenance, May 17, 2016, NAMA curatorial files.
[7] See letter from J.C. Nichols to Arthur M. Hyde, January 26, 1931, NAMA curatorial files.
Possibly The exhibition of the Royal Academy, M.DCC.LXXX, the Twelfth, exh. cat (London: T. Cadell, 1780).
Probably A Catalogue of the Pictures and Drawings of the Late Mr. Gainsborough: Including those Works of the Old Masters, which he had Collected with Great Attention. The Whole will be Exhibited at his late dwelling-house in Pall-Mall, on Monday, the 30th of March, and following days, Sundays excepted, From Nine in the Morning till Seven in the Evening; and are to be sold by Private Contract by Mr. Gainsborough Dupont (London: T. Rickaby, 1789).
A Catalogue of the Remainder of the Capital Collection of Pictures, Drawings, etc. of that Ingenious and Esteemed Artist, Mr. Gainsborough, dec.: Comprising Many of his Best Works; Also a Few Capital Pictures by Old Masters, Selected with Great Judgment; Together with a Few Fine Drawings by Himself (London: Christie’s, 1792).
Catalogue of Pictures by Italian, Spanish, Flemish, Dutch, and English Masters, with which the Proprietors Have Favoured the Institution (London: William Nicol, 1829), 21, as Cattle in a Landscape.
George Williams Fulcher, Life of Thomas Gainsborough, R.A (London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1856), 190, 202, 233, as Repose- cattle in a Landscape.
Walter Thornbury, The Life of J.M.W. Turner Founded on his Letters and Papers Furnished by his Friends and Fellow Academicians, vol. 2 (London: Hurst and Blackett, 1862), 62.
Catalogue of the renowned collection of English pictures and sculpture, of that distinguished patron of art, Elhanan Bicknell, Esq.: deceased, removed from Herne Hill (London: Christie, Manson and Woods, 1863).
Catalogue of the Renowned Collection of Ancient and Modern Pictures and Water-Colour Drawings, of the Well-Known Patron of Art, Joseph Gillott, Esq., Deceased, Removed from his late Residence at Birmingham: With the Sale Prices and Names of the Purchasers (London: Christie, Manson and Woods, 1872), 43, as Repose.
Exhibition of Works by The Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School; Including a Collection of Water Colour Drawings, Studies, and Sketches from Nature, exh. cat. (London: Royal Academy, 1892), 32, as Repose: A Landscape, with Cattle.
Catalogue of the highly important collection of modern pictures, chiefly of the early English School, formed during the last thirty years by that eminent connoisseur, James Price, Esq. deceased: late of Barcombe, Paignton, S. Devon (London: William Clowes and Sons, 1895).
Catalogue of The early English pictures of T.M. Whitehead, Esq. ... : Martin Heckscher, Esq. … Captain Garnham, R.N. ... : and an important assemblage of early English pictures from numerous private collections and different sources (London: Christie, Manson and Woods, 1898).
Ronald Sutherland Gower, Thomas Gainsborough (London: G. Bell and Sons, 1903).
Walter Armstrong, Gainsborough and His Place in English Art (London: W. Heinemann, 1904), 168, 250, 288.
Alfred Ewen Fletcher, Life of Thomas Gainsborough (London: Walter Scott, 1904).
Catalogue of the choice collection of important pictures by old masters modern pictures, drawings and engravings of Harry Quilter, Esq., of 42 Queen's Gate Gardens, W. (London: Christie, Manson and Woods, 1906).
William Biggs Boulton, Thomas Gainsborough, His Life, Work, Friends, and Sitters (Chicago: A.C. McClurg, 1907).
Mortimer Mempes and James Greig, Gainsborough (London: A. and C. Black, 1909).
Ronald Sutherland Gower, Drawings of Gainsborough (London: Newnes, [1910?]).
Illustrated Catalogue of a Loan Collection of Paintings, Water Colours and Engravings: In the Victoria Art Galleries, Dundee, on the occasion of the British Association Meeting, exh. cat. (Glasgow: University Press, 1912), 57, (repro.), as Repose.
Algernon Graves, A Century of Loan Exhibitions 1813-1912, vol. 1 (London: Algernon Graves, 1913), 372, 387, (repro.), as Cattle in a Landscape.
William Thomas Whitley, Thomas Gainsborough (London: Smith, Elder, 1915).
E. Rimbault Dibdin, Thomas Gainsborough 1727-1788 (London: Cassell, 1923).
William Thomas Whitley, The Collector (March 1930).
“Parsons Makes More Purchases for Kansas City,” The Art News 29, no. 26 (March 28, 1931): 3, as Repose.
The Burlington Magazine 59 (August 1931): 86.
“A Treasure Island of Art Masterpieces,” The Kansas City Visitor (October 1931): 7, (repro.), as Repose.
“Gainsborough,” The Art Digest 8, no. 5 (December 1, 1933): 24-25, (repro.), as Repose.
Alfred M. Frankfurter, “Paintings in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art,” in “The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City Special Number,” The Art News 32, no. 10 (December 9, 1933): 28, 30, as Repose.
The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Handbook of the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1933), 57, (repro.), as Repose.
The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 2nd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1941), 67, 89, (repro.), as Repose.
“Editorial: Gainsborough’s Collection of Pictures,” The Burlington Magazine 74, no. 494 (May 1944): 109, as A Landscape, with Cows and Horses.
The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 3rd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1949), 83, (repro.), as Repose.
“Loan Exhibitions, April 10 to April 30: Some British Drawings, South Loan Gallery and Gallery XVI,” Gallery News (The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts) 17, no. 7 (April 1951): unpaginated, as Repose.
Patrick J. Kelleher, “The Century of Mozart: January 15 through March 4, 1956,” exh. cat., Bulletin (The Nelson Gallery and Atkins Museum) 1, no. 1 (January 1956): 27.
Ellis Waterhouse, Gainsborough (London: Hulton, 1958), 112, 114, (repro.).
Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 130, (repro.), as Repose.
Gerald Reitlinger, The Economics of Taste: the Rise and Fall of Picture Prices, 1760-1960 (London: Barrie and Rockliff, 1961), 321-22.
Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 1, Art of the Occident, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 145, (repro.).
John D. Morse, Old Master Paintings in North America: Over 3000 Masterpieces by 50 Great Artists (New York: Abbeville Press, 1979), 134, as Repose.
Gainsborough: 1727-1788 (Paris: Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, 1981), 47, 168, (repro.), as Repos.
John Hayes, The Landscape of Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough: A Critical Text and Catalogue Raisonné (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982) 1:135-37, 158n56, (repro.); 2: 469-71, (repro.), as Open Landscape with Herdsman sleeping and Horses and Cows at the Edge of a Wood (Repose).
Gene A. Mittler, Art in Focus: Aesthetics, Criticism, History, Studio, 4th ed. (New York: Glencoe/McGraw Hill, 2000), 55, (repro.), as Repose.
