Mountain Landscape with Bridge
c. 1783/1784
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 113 x 133.4 cm (44 1/2 x 52 1/2 in.) framed: 146.7 x 167.6 cm (57 3/4 x 66 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Andrew W. Mellon Collection
Accession Number
1937.1.107
Art Historical Context
Thomas Gainsborough’s *Mountain Landscape with Bridge*, painted around 1783–1784, captures the artist’s late-career fascination with the natural world. Best known for his elegant portraits, Gainsborough increasingly turned to landscapes in his final years, creating poetic visions of the countryside that blend observation with imagination. This large oil on canvas invites viewers into a sweeping scene where rugged mountains meet a delicate bridge, evoking both the grandeur and serenity of nature. Working in the late eighteenth century, Gainsborough drew inspiration from earlier Dutch landscape...
About the Artist
Thomas Gainsborough · 1727–1788
Thomas Gainsborough was born on 14 May 1727 in Sudbury, Suffolk, the youngest of nine children to wool dealer John Gainsborough and his wife Mary. Demonstrating prodigious talent from childhood, he sketched landscapes in the local woods and fields, fostering his lifelong passion for the genre. At age thirteen, he moved to London, where he trained under the French engraver and illustrator Hubert-Fr...