Thomas Gainsborough (1727 –1788) was a portrait and landscape painter who worked on the observations of nature and of human nature. He depicts his paintings with realism mixed with poetic sensibility. He said he liked to “walk off to some sweet village, where I can paint landscapes and enjoy the fag end (= letteralmente: il mozzicone) of life in quietness and ease.”
An example of his way of writing stories on the canvas (= tele)is Carthorses Drinking at a Stream. In the painting there is a family of peasants (= contadini) going home in a country wagon (= carro di campagna). They are shown in a moment of rest (= riposo) after the hard work of the day. The drover (= conducente) stops the horses near the bridge to let them drink. The sunset on the background adds (=aggiunge) a poetic note to the peaceful view (= panorama) and the figures seem to merge (= confondersi) with the scenes behind them.