Wooded Upland Landscape
Thomas Gainsborough·probably 1783
Historical Context
Wooded Upland Landscape from probably 1783 belongs to the category of large-scale landscape paintings that Gainsborough composed in his London studio from memory and elaborate arrangements of studio props: pieces of coal for rocks, broccoli and moss for foliage, mirrors for water, candles for light effects. This method, which he described in letters, produced landscapes composed with poetic freedom rather than topographic accuracy — the opposite of the documentary landscapes that Dutch painters like Jacob van Ruisdael had produced a century earlier. The resulting images have an imaginary quality, a constructed pastoral England that suited the period's taste for landscape expressing mood rather than recording place. At the Royal Academy exhibitions of the 1780s, Gainsborough's evocative landscapes competed for public attention with more literal approaches, and the contrast between his method and others defined a debate about what English landscape painting should aspire to be. The Metropolitan Museum holds this among several Gainsborough landscapes that document his preference for what he called 'fancy pictures,' works liberated from the demands of topographical accuracy and driven entirely by atmospheric feeling.
Technical Analysis
The landscape is built up with Gainsborough's characteristic flickering brushwork, creating a sense of light playing through foliage. Warm browns and cool greens are woven together in rapid, interlocking strokes that give the trees and undergrowth a vibrant, living quality.
Look Closer
- ◆Look at the flickering brushwork throughout the foliage — Gainsborough builds up his landscape with short, varied strokes that create the impression of light moving through leaves without describing individual leaves.
- ◆Notice the warm browns and golden greens of the upland woodland — Gainsborough's imaginary landscapes use warmer, more golden tones than Constable's naturalistic greens, evoking Dutch Old Masters.
- ◆Observe the atmospheric recession from the warm foreground into the cooler, more distant middle ground — Gainsborough uses temperature contrast rather than just tonal contrast to create depth.
- ◆Find any small figures or animals in the landscape — Gainsborough's imaginary landscapes almost always include a small herdsman or cattle to animate the pastoral scene.
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