
A Woodman Seated on a Bundle of Faggots
Thomas Gainsborough · 1787
- Medium
- Black chalk with stumping, heightened with touches of white gouache and traces of white chalk, on buff laid paper
- Original size
- 48.5 × 29.6 cm (19 1/8 × 11 11/16 in.)
- Currently held
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Movement
- Neoclassicism
This intimate chalk study captures a weathered rural laborer at rest, rendered with the same atmospheric sensitivity Gainsborough brought to his most celebrated portraits and landscapes. By 1787, Gainsborough had grown increasingly absorbed by what he called "fancy pictures" — scenes of humble country life that stood apart from the fashionable commissions that made his name. This drawing, worked in black chalk with careful stumping to blend and soften forms, shows his draughtsmanship at its most direct: the figure is observed rather than idealized, the buff paper itself contributing warmth to the composition. The touches of white gouache that catch the light on the woodman's coat reveal how deliberately Gainsborough constructed mood even in works never intended for public exhibition. The subject connects to one of his most personally significant oils — a large painting of a woodman that Gainsborough reportedly kept for himself rather than selling, considering it among his finest achievements. This hand-painted oil reproduction translates the tenderness and tonal subtlety of the original into the richer medium of oil on canvas, preserving the quiet humanity at the heart of Gainsborough's vision while bringing it into the warmth and scale of a living space.
Hand-painted oil reproduction
Painted in real oil on stretched canvas by master copyists. Delivered unframed — ready to frame at home.
Choose a size
In Gainsborough's style.
Send us a photograph of your family, pet, or home — we'll paint it as a custom oil on stretched canvas in any style you like. From £220.

← Real customer commission · see the full gallery
Code WELCOME20 at checkout for 20% off your first commission.
Commission yours →



