Shepherd Boys and Dog Sheltering from a Storm

Thomas Barker created this oil on paper laid down on canvas in 1789. The work's early ownership is uncertain but may include Philip Vandyck Browne of Shrewsbury. An ink label on the stretcher identifies the piece as number 53 by Gainsborough, lent by Philip Browne, suggesting a misattribution that persisted into the twentieth century.

The painting subsequently appeared in France, indicated by a shipping label from the company Chenue addressed to a dealer named Bellas for transport to London.

Later recorded in the collection of Howard Sturges in Providence, Rhode Island, the work was still attributed to Gainsborough at that time. Upon Sturges's death in 1955, the painting was bequeathed to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., entering the collection in 1956.

The painting Shepherd Boys and Dog Sheltering from a Storm is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It entered the museum's inventory in 1956 as a bequest from Howard Sturges, who died in 1955. Prior to this acquisition, the work was owned by Sturges in Providence, Rhode Island, where it was attributed to Thomas Gainsborough. Earlier provenance traces the piece to Shrewsbury, potentially linking it to Philip Vandyck Browne or his descendant Philip Browne, who displayed the work with a Gainsborough attribution following its transfer from paper to canvas after 1898. The painting was subsequently exported to France before reaching its current location.