Oil painting, Landscape with Cows, after Thomas Gainsborough, British school, late 18th to early 19th century

In the foreground, a pool formed by the bend of a stream flows towards the spectator’s left. In the centre, a man drives three cows to the right. On the left, middle distance, is a cottage amid trees; there are trees also on the right. In the distance are hills.

Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

Probably identical with 'A landscape with cattle watering, an early picture in imitation of Berghem', Christie's, 13 May 1825, lot 20, sold for £6. 6s. 0d. [According to an MS. label on the verso of CAI. 109; 'This Picture Painted by Thomas Gainsborough and purchased by Mr Bromley at Mr Christie's Sale Room London in 1825.']; W. Angerstein collection; his sale, Christie's 24 February 1883, lot 256 as by Gainsborough; bought for £73 10s. 0d. by Constantine Alexander Ionides; his inventory (private collection) 24 February 1883 valued at £70; bequeathed by C.A. Ionides, 1900.

Landscape with Cows, in which a drover leads cattle to water, is one of several copies of A wooded landscape with a herdsman, cows and sheep near a pool by Thomas Gainsborough (Christie’s, New York, 15 April 2008, lot 57; current ownership unknown). The V&A version, however, omits the figures outside the cottage and the sheep in the foreground.

The original Gainsborough painting is one of a pair, completed in 1786, purchased by Robert Palmer (d.1787), a successful London solicitor, or his son, Richard Palmer (d. 1806), and is typical of the quiet repose of Gainsborough’s later work (Hayes, John, The Landscape Paintings of Thomas Gainsborough: A Critical Text and Catalogue Raisonné, Volume Two, London 1982, p.563, Cat. No. 180). It is a variant of a similar picture by Gainsborough, Boy Driving Cows near a Pool, c.1786 (Tate Gallery, N00309) in which the sheep have been omitted in the foreground, and a park gate and a different arrangement of trees replace the cottage with figures on the left.

The V&A copy was sold by Christie’s in 1825 and so must be a comparatively early replica of Gainsborough’s work compared to the many imitations of his paintings which are probably mid-nineteenth century or later in date (Hayes Volume One, 1982, p.280). It was referred to as ‘The sham Gainsborough’ in the Athenæum (23rd July 1904, p.118).

Landscape with Cows, in which a drover leads cattle to water, is one of several copies of A wooded landscape with a herdsman, cows and sheep near a pool by Thomas Gainsborough (Christie’s sale 2008; current ownership unknown). The original Gainsborough painting is one of a pair, completed in 1786, and is typical of the quiet repose of his later work. It is a variant of a similar picture by Gainsborough, Boy Driving Cows near a Pool, c.1786, in the Tate Gallery. The V&A copy was sold by Christie’s in 1825 and so must be a comparatively early replica of Gainsborough’s work compared to the many imitations of his paintings which are probably mid-nineteenth century or later in date.

CAI.109