Coast scene, Brighton
Drawing
ca. 1824
ca. 1824
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Coast scene, Brighton. Pen, sepia and grey wash on rough paper
On the Verso is a pencil sketch of a wide downland landscape, inscribed below plate 209 illegibly, identified by Mr. R. B. Beckett as the Devil's Dyke, near the 'Shepherd
and Dog' inn; also a slight study of a kneeling figure.
That the scene on the recto is correctly identified as Brighton is confirmed by a water-colour entitled 'Brighton Beach' by F. L. T. Francia (present whereabouts unknown) which shows the same belfry on the breakwater.
Constable recorded a visit to the Devil's Dyke in a letter to Fisher postmarked 29 [August] 1824 (Beckett, VI, p. 172); the drawing on the verso may have been made on this occasion. In the course of his description he comments: "Last Tuesday, the [illest day that ever was, we went to the Dyke-which is in fact a Roman remains of an embankment, overlooking-perhaps the most grand & affecting natural landscape in the world-and consequently a scene the most unfit for a picture. It is the business of a painter not to contend with nature & put this scene (a valley filled with imagery 50 miles long) on a canvas of a few inches, but to make something out of nothing, in attempting which he must almost of necessity become poetical."
On the Verso is a pencil sketch of a wide downland landscape, inscribed below plate 209 illegibly, identified by Mr. R. B. Beckett as the Devil's Dyke, near the 'Shepherd
and Dog' inn; also a slight study of a kneeling figure.
That the scene on the recto is correctly identified as Brighton is confirmed by a water-colour entitled 'Brighton Beach' by F. L. T. Francia (present whereabouts unknown) which shows the same belfry on the breakwater.
Constable recorded a visit to the Devil's Dyke in a letter to Fisher postmarked 29 [August] 1824 (Beckett, VI, p. 172); the drawing on the verso may have been made on this occasion. In the course of his description he comments: "Last Tuesday, the [illest day that ever was, we went to the Dyke-which is in fact a Roman remains of an embankment, overlooking-perhaps the most grand & affecting natural landscape in the world-and consequently a scene the most unfit for a picture. It is the business of a painter not to contend with nature & put this scene (a valley filled with imagery 50 miles long) on a canvas of a few inches, but to make something out of nothing, in attempting which he must almost of necessity become poetical."
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Coast scene, Brighton (popular title) |
| Materials and techniques | Pen, sepia and grey wash on rough paper |
| Brief description | John Constable, Coast Scene, Brighton, c.1824, Reynolds cat. no. 279, On the back is a pencil drawing, possibly the Devil's Dyke |
| Physical description | Coast scene, Brighton. Pen, sepia and grey wash on rough paper On the Verso is a pencil sketch of a wide downland landscape, inscribed below plate 209 illegibly, identified by Mr. R. B. Beckett as the Devil's Dyke, near the 'Shepherd and Dog' inn; also a slight study of a kneeling figure. That the scene on the recto is correctly identified as Brighton is confirmed by a water-colour entitled 'Brighton Beach' by F. L. T. Francia (present whereabouts unknown) which shows the same belfry on the breakwater. Constable recorded a visit to the Devil's Dyke in a letter to Fisher postmarked 29 [August] 1824 (Beckett, VI, p. 172); the drawing on the verso may have been made on this occasion. In the course of his description he comments: "Last Tuesday, the [illest day that ever was, we went to the Dyke-which is in fact a Roman remains of an embankment, overlooking-perhaps the most grand & affecting natural landscape in the world-and consequently a scene the most unfit for a picture. It is the business of a painter not to contend with nature & put this scene (a valley filled with imagery 50 miles long) on a canvas of a few inches, but to make something out of nothing, in attempting which he must almost of necessity become poetical." |
| Dimensions |
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| Credit line | Given by Isabel Constable, 1888 |
| Object history | Isabel Constable bequest |
| Historical context | In 1824 Constable's sole exhibit at the Royal Academy was 'A Boat passing a Lock' ('The Lock') (now in the collection of Mr. S. Morrison). 'The Hay Wain', the 'View on the Stour near Dedham' and a 'View of Hampstead Heath' were exhibited at the Salon in Paris in this year. He took his wife and family to Brighton for the first time in May, and himself spent some time in London and some with them in Brighton, returning before them at the end of August. |
| Place depicted | |
| Bibliographic references |
|
| Other number | 279 - Reynolds catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 191-1888 |
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| Record created | June 30, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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