During an introductory chat with my new tutor, in response to my first post on this exercise, he mentioned an article that appeared in the Daily Telegraph (no, not my favourite newspaper either!) on some interesting symbolism within Gainsborough’s portrait/landscape. See the link below.
I have never seen this painting in the flesh, nor a sufficiently high quality version in a book or on the internet to be able adequately to pick out these details. I have until now been unaware that the animals in the background are donkeys – I had assumed they were horses. Nor could I see properly what is in Mrs Andrews’s lap.
With this new insight I feel all the more comfortable with my views on what pictorial depictions of landscapes can mean and amount to. To the various other categories or genres that I have already mentioned I would now add satire and straightforward insult, a slap in the face with a piece of metaphorical wet fish. I love the idea of a grand gesture in the form of a painting also being a more intimate and personal gesture of the two-fingered variety. As a result the painting appeals to my personal and political sentiments and leanings on questions of property and land ownership even more! It certainly made this crusty old Leveller and Digger laugh out loud.
Mark Robinson's OCA Landscape, Place & Environment Blog 