Study of an angel

This study takes after the angel that appears in Van Dyck's altarpiece The Ecstasy of Saint Augustine, in the church of the Augustinian Fathers in Antwerp, one of his most significant commissions. It is possible that Gainsborough saw the copy, en grisaille, of the altarpiece at Corsham Court, or was aware of another such copy or print, though it is not known how he would have had knowledge of the colouring of the original.