Landscape with cattle by a pool
Print
1797 (printed and published)
1797 (printed and published)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
The English artist Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) is best known as a painter, but he was also a printmaker. In this print he has used the technique of soft ground etching in order to simulate the effect of pencil drawing. The method uses a metal printing plate with a waxy, acid-resistant coating, which is softer than the ground used for an ordinary etching. The printmaker draws with pencil on a sheet of paper laid over this ground. When the paper is peeled back, it picks up the wax where the pencil has been applied. These uneven, pencil-like lines are then bitten into the metal printing plate when it is immersed in acid.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Landscape with cattle by a pool (generic title) |
Materials and techniques | Soft-ground etching |
Brief description | Soft-groung etching. Thomas Gainsborough. Landscape with cattle by a pool, 1797. |
Physical description | Soft-ground etching print on paper |
Dimensions |
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Credit line | Given by Mr Henry J. Pfungst FSA |
Subject depicted | |
Summary | The English artist Thomas Gainsborough (1727-1788) is best known as a painter, but he was also a printmaker. In this print he has used the technique of soft ground etching in order to simulate the effect of pencil drawing. The method uses a metal printing plate with a waxy, acid-resistant coating, which is softer than the ground used for an ordinary etching. The printmaker draws with pencil on a sheet of paper laid over this ground. When the paper is peeled back, it picks up the wax where the pencil has been applied. These uneven, pencil-like lines are then bitten into the metal printing plate when it is immersed in acid. |
Collection | |
Accession number | E.3234-1914 |
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Record created | January 21, 2003 |
Record URL |
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