Figures Before a Cottage

In a wood lit by the glow of evening, a family has gathered in front of the door of an old cottage. Children huddle around a woman who sits holding a baby, and at the right a man comes home carrying a bundle of firewood. A white dog is at his feet. The canvas is tall and large, measuring 149.0 x 120.0 cm.

Gainsborough painted several works on the theme of the cottage door, and this is said to be the first of them. The museum's commentary sees the woman holding the baby, who stands out brightly in the dim scene, as recalling the Virgin and Child, and the children around her as recalling the cupids in Correggio's altarpieces. The evening glow filtering through the leaves and the light reflected in the window, rendered with thick paint, further heighten the mood of the picture.

It was made near the end of the artist's stay in Bath (1759-74). The idealized peasants, who stand still as if posing in a studio, are said to lead toward the "fancy picture" (a kind of painting midway between portrait and genre painting) that he would perfect in his later London years. Gainsborough is reported to have said that he painted portraits for a living and landscapes for pleasure.