A house, cottage and trees by moonlight
Drawing
ca. 1830-ca. 1836 (made)
ca. 1830-ca. 1836 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This wash drawing of an unidentified moonlit landscape is typical of Constable's last phase. He employed the medium of wash frequently in his later years, using it to produce expressionistic sketches that verged on abstraction. These were never intended for the public eye, and would have been considered unacceptable for exhibition by the standards of the day.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | A house, cottage and trees by moonlight (popular title) |
Materials and techniques | Sepia and grey wash |
Brief description | Draiwing, A house, cottage and trees by moonlight, by John Constable, sepia wash drawing, ca.1830-36 |
Physical description | A wash drawing depicting a house, cotage and trees by moonlight, under what appears to be a sky filled with rapidly moving clouds. |
Dimensions |
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Style | |
Credit line | Given by Isabel Constable, daughter of the artist |
Object history | Although the drawing is dated c. 1830 in the Inventory of Art Objects 1888, Renolds dates it to apporximately 1836 due to its resemblance to the last phase of Constable's draughtsmanship. |
Historical context | ‘In 1836 Constable's two exhibits at the Royal Academy were the 'Cenotaph to the memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds' (now in the Tate Gallery, No. 1272) and the watercolour 'Stonehenge' (No. 395 [1629-1888]). He gave four lectures on 'The History of Landscape Painting' at the Royal Institution in May and June of this year and his last lecture, at Hampstead, on 25 July. Constable died on 31 March 1837. His almost completed painting 'Arundel Mill and Castle' (now in the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio; see No. 379 [260-1888]) was exhibited posthumously at the Royal Academy.’ [G Reynolds, 1973, p. 233] The loose, expressionistic brushwork and tendency toward abstraction is typical of Constable's late sketches (see also 250-1888). |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | This wash drawing of an unidentified moonlit landscape is typical of Constable's last phase. He employed the medium of wash frequently in his later years, using it to produce expressionistic sketches that verged on abstraction. These were never intended for the public eye, and would have been considered unacceptable for exhibition by the standards of the day. |
Bibliographic reference | Catalogue of the Constable Collection, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973, pp. 233, 241 |
Other number | 412, plate 307 - Reynolds catalogue no. |
Collection | |
Accession number | 248-1888 |
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Record created | October 20, 2005 |
Record URL |
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