Constable usually made studies directly from nature for his large oil paintings, and this study of ash trees may be an example of his working method: the foremost tree, with a dead branch hanging against its trunk, appears to be the same as that in the right foreground of a painting owned by Tate Britain, The Valley Farm. However, the sketch's resemblance to studies of ash trees at Hampstead may suggest that this is an independent drawing, done after the completion of the painting.
Physical description
Pencil drawing of two ash trees with dramatically shadowed trunks and sunlit crowns. The tree in the foreground has a dead branch hanging down two-thirds of the way up the trunk.
Place of Origin
Suffolk, England (drawn)
Date
1817 (drawn)
Artist/maker
John Constable, born 1776 - died 1837 (drawn by)
Materials and Techniques
Pencil and paper
Marks and inscriptions
'J WHATMAN'
Dimensions
Height: 328 mm, Width: 238 mm
Object history note
Historical significance: In 1818 Constable first exhibited one of his tree studies at the Royal Academy; previously he had exhibited oil paintings almost exclusively there.
Historical context note
In 1817 Constable exhibited four works at the Royal Academy: 'Scene on a navigable river' ('Flatford Mill on the River Stour') (Tate Gallery No. 1273); 'A Cottage' (see No. 352 [1631-1888]); 'Wivenhoe Park, Essex, the seat of Major-General Rebow' (National Gallery of Art, Washington: Widener Collection); and a portrait of John Fisher, still in the Fisher family collection. He spent ten weeks of the summer at East Bergholt. His first child, John Charles, was born on 4 December.
[G Reynolds, 1973, p. 115]
Descriptive line
Drawing 'Study of ash trees' by John Constable
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
G. Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum: Catalogue of the Constable Collection, 1973, pp. 118-19, no. 163.
Parris, Leslie and Ian Fleming-Williams, Constable London : The Tate Gallery, 1991. ISBN 1854370707 / 1854370715. 544 p. : ill. (some col.)
Exhibition catalogue.
Catalogue of the Constable Collection, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973, pp. 115, 118, 119
The following is an extract from the text of the entry:
The foremost tree in this study from nature appears to be the same as that in the right foreground of The Valley Farm (Tate Gallery No. 327), recongisable from the dead branch hanging vertically downwards on the left, a little more than half way up the tree. See note to No. 375 [1249-1888] for a fuller discussion of the relationship between the foremost tree in this study from nature and ‘The Valley Farm’. The drawing is placed in this position in the catalogue because it has close affinities with Constable’s other detailed drawings of trees in the collection; compare, for instance, the undetailed treatment of the background with that in No. 161 [256-1888]. But, for the reason given in the note to No. 376 [1248-1888], there is a slight possibility that No. 375 [1249-1888] as well as No. 376 [1248-1888] may have been drawn from a tree at Hampstead. If that were so, No. 163 [252-1888] would probably not have been drawn before 1819, when Constable first stayed at Hampstead.
Exhibition History
Constable: a breath of fresh air (The Millennium Galleries, Sheffield 08/02/2003-27/04/2003)
John Constable, selected by Lucian Freud (Grand Palais 10/10/2002-13/01/2003)
Constable (Tate 13/06/1991-15/09/1991)
Materials
Pencil
Techniques
Drawing
Subjects depicted
Tree, ash
Categories
Drawings
Collection code
PDP
