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SPRING
Constable, John RA, born 1776 - died 1837 - Enlarge image
SPRING
- Object:
Print
- Place of origin:
England
- Date:
19th century
- Artist/Maker:
Constable, John RA, born 1776 - died 1837 (painter)
Lucas, David, born 1802 - died 1881 (engraver)
John Constable, born 1776 - died 1837 (publisher) - Materials and Techniques:
Mezzotint
- Credit Line:
Accepted in lieu of Inheritance Tax by H M Government from the estate of the Hon. Christopher Lennox-Boyd and allocated to the Victoria and Albert Museum 2015.
- Museum number:
E.800-2016
- Gallery location:
Prints & Drawings Study Room, level E, case CLB, shelf 1
This print is from one of the most important series of mezzotints ever to be published.
Towards the end of his life, John Constable embarked upon a project to supervise and publish a series of mezzotints based on a selection of his oil sketches, finished paintings and possibly one or two watercolours and drawings. Various Subjects of English Landscape, Characteristic of English Scenery, from Pictures Painted by John Constable, R.A., better known as English Landscape, consisted of 22 landscape subjects executed in mezzotint by David Lucas, organised into six parts and published between June 1830 and July 1832. Constable revised the series in 1833 in what is referred to as the second edition. After his death in 1837 there were subsequent reprints of the material, plates begun during his lifetime were completed and published and Lucas went on to engrave and publish entirely new plates.
Drawing upon the precedents of Claude Lorrain and J.M.W. Turner, the ageing and still misunderstood Constable used English Landscape to explain and justify his life’s work. Choosing subjects of both a personal and historical significance, he sought to promote the appreciation of England’s scenery and, more importantly, to highlight nature’s guiding principle of chiaroscuro showing the influence of light and shadow upon landscape.
For this magnus opus Constable engaged the services of David Lucas, a young and little-known mezzotinter and former pupil of Samuel Reynolds, who rapidly became a master under Constable’s tutelage not so much copying as translating the painter’s original works into a new graphic language. Through a brilliant use of mezzotint, and occasional drypoint and etching, Lucas conveyed the tactile quality of Constable’s brushstrokes and both his sharp contrasts of light and dark and subtle tonal gradations. The project was a commercial failure for Constable while Lucas never again reached the artistic heights he employed in this endeavour. He worked for lesser artists after Constable’s death and eventually died in Fulham union workhouse.
