Watercolor over graphite on medium, moderately textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 7 x 8 1/2 inches (17.8 x 21.6 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed in artist's hand in graphite, verso, upper left: "East Bergholt"; inscribed in pen and black ink, verso, upper left: "East Bergholt"; in later hand in graphite, verso, upper center: "J.C."; bottom right: "13"
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.4660
Classification:
Drawings & Watercolors
Collection:
Prints and Drawings
Subject Terms:
landscape | trees | sheep
Associated Places:
Suffolk | East Bergholt | England | United Kingdom | Europe
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (The State Hermitage Museum, 2007-10-23 - 2008-01-13)Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, 2007-07-11 - 2007-09-30)Masters of British Painting: John Constable (Musée du Louvre, 2002-10-08 - 2003-01-13)Oil on Water - Oil Sketches by British Watercolorists (Yale Center for British Art, 1986-08-26 - 1986-11-09)English Landscape (Paul Mellon Collection) 1630-1850 (Yale Center for British Art, 1977-04-19 - 1977-07-17)
Publications:
Malcolm Cormack, Oil on water, oil sketches by British watercolorists , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1986, pp. 18-19, fig. 5, ND467 C67 (YCBA)Graham Reynolds, The early paintings and drawings of John Constable, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 1996, p. 64 (v.1), no. 5.30, pl. 270 [v.2], NJ18 C74 R484 1996 + (YCBA)Christopher White, English landscape, 1630-1850, drawings, prints & books from the Paul Mellon Collection , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1977, p. 86, no. 154, pl. XXVII, NC228 W45 OVERSIZE (YCBA)Yale Center for British Art, Great British watercolors : from the Paul Mellon Collection, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2007, pp. 116-119, no. 50, ND1928 .Y35 2007 (LC)+ Oversize (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
John Constable lacked the natural facility of Turner and Girtin and struggled to achieve his goal of being a major painter. In 1802, frustrated with his progress at the Royal Academy Schools, he told a friend that “I shall shortly return [home] to Bergholt where I shall make some laborious studies of nature—and I shall endeavour to get a pure and unaffected representation of the scenes that may employ me.” Initially he made his studies in oils, but around 1805 he began to dabble in watercolor. This example, a product of that period of study, was almost certainly painted outdoors directly from nature. Already we find Constable’s trademark concern to capture specific atmospheric conditions. Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)