One of three preparatory studies (III, 46a-c) connected with a portrait of an unidentified girl, traditionally called Miss Lloyd, now in the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth.
On one mat.
Probably drawn in preparation for the Portrait of a Lady (Miss Lloyd) at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, these three small sketches (III, 46a-c) are typical of Gainsborough's earliest attempts in the genre of portraiture, in which the artist nonetheless took the opportunity to advertise his skills as a landscapist. While the silhouette of the sitter is only barely delineated, the natural setting is carefully described. -- Exhibition Label, from "Thomas Gainsborough: Experiments in Drawings."
Watermark: Letters "GR", fragment, missing crown which is seen on III, 46b.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, III, 46a; III, 46b; III, 46c.
Wiles, Stephanie. To Observe and Imagine : British Drawings, 1600-1900. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1998, no. 30.