About this artwork

This late work, probably exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1783, demonstrates the artist’s increasing interest in landscape painting. Gainsborough went to the Lake District in the same year intending to 'mount all the Lakes at the next exhibition in the great stile' and whether painted before or after his tour, this picture makes the first of his 'sublime' mountain scenes aiming at the grandeur of Salvator Rosa and Gaspard Dughet. This painting was not sold until after Gainsborough’s death when it was purchased in 1789 by Earl Gower, Marquess of Stafford and subsequently became part of the Sutherland collection, much of which is now on view at the Scottish National Gallery.

Updated before 2020

  • artist:
  • title:
    Rocky Landscape
  • date created:
    About 1783
  • materials:
    Oil on canvas
  • measurements:
    119.40 x 147.30 cm; Framed: 142.10 x 171.00 x 13.50 cm / 49.00 kg
  • object type:
  • credit line:
    Purchased with the aid of a Treasury Grant 1962
  • accession number:
    NG 2253
  • gallery:
  • artwork photographed by:
    Antonia Reeve
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Thomas Gainsborough

Thomas Gainsborough