A plough at Bewdley.

Physical description

Pencil sketch of a plow.

Place of Origin

Worcestershire, England (made)

Date

14 October 1835 (made)

Artist/maker

John Constable, born 1776 - died 1837 (artist)

Materials and Techniques

Pencil on paper

Marks and inscriptions

'Worcestershire Plough'
'Bewdley 14 October 1935 Worcestershire.'

Dimensions

Height: 8.125 in, Width: 11.25 in

Historical context note

'In 1835 Constable's sole exhibit at the Royal Academy was 'The Valley Farm' (see Nos. 373-377 [143-1888, 140-1888, 1249-1888, 1248-1888, 600-1888]). He visited George Constable at Arundel in July. He visited Worcester (where paintings by him had been exhibited in July) to give three lectures, in October.'

[G Reynolds, 1973, p. 221]

Descriptive line

Pencil drawing, 'A plough at Bewdley' by Constable.

Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)

Catalogue of the Constable Collection, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973, pp. 221, 230
The following is an extract from the text of the entry:
“The top edge of the sheet is curved, showing that it has been cut. It bears traces of having been a sketch-book page, with the hinge marks on the left, and the width suggests that it came from the same book as No. 383 [314-1888], which was drawn on the same visit to Worcester.

Note on Nos. 378-381, 383 and 384 [272-1888, 260-1888, 312-1888, 615-1888, 314-1888, 836-1888]

Nos. 380 [312-1888], 381 [615-1888] and 383 [314-1888] come from the same sketch-book of which the leaves measure 221 x 285 mm. (8 ¾ x 11 1/8 ins.), which was used by the artist on his summer visit to George Constable at Arundel concurrently with the intact sketch-book No. 382 [316-1888], and again when he went to Worcester to lecture in October. For the reasons given in the entries on those drawings, Nos. 378 [272-1888], 379 [260-1888] and 384 [836-1888] are probably from the same book. Holmes, p. 252, notes in the Sir J. C. Robinson sale of 21 April 1902 a drawing 'Landscape with Cottages' dated 15 July 1835 and measuring 8 ¾ x 11 ins. This was made during the visit to Arundel and may have been from the same sketch-book.”

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)

Materials

Paper; Pencil

Subjects depicted

Plow

Collection code

PDP