Study of Tree Trunks
Oil Painting
ca. 1821 (painted)
ca. 1821 (painted)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
This outdoor sketch brilliantly captures the effect of broken sunlight falling through foliage. In May 1819 Constable expressed his delight in such subjects: 'Every tree seems full of blossom of some kind & the surface of the ground seems quite lovely'. The figure at the right may be the artist's wife, with one of their children.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Title | Study of Tree Trunks (popular title) |
| Materials and techniques | oil on paper |
| Brief description | Study of Tree Trunks by John Constable (British, 1776-1837); oil on canvas; Britain; 19th century. |
| Physical description | View from above of a large tree trunk and a woman with a bonnet, possibly holding a child. |
| Dimensions |
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| Style | |
| Gallery label | Label [Author unknown]
This study is no more than a fragment of a scene, a study of the way in which sunlight filters through the leaves of a tree and illuminates its trunk. The leaves are painted with a yellow that reflects the brilliance of the sun and the tree trunk is painted with smooth strokes that blend into one another and suggest the sheen on the bark of the tree. The composition is deliberately oblique and the spectator's eye is led out to the right of the composition where a girl is portrayed in the sun at the bottom of the bank. |
| Credit line | Given by Isabel Constable |
| Object history | Given by Isabel Constable, 1888 |
| Historical context | The chief of Constable's four exhibits in 1821 was 'Landscape: Noon' ('The Hay Wain') (National Gallery No. 1207; for the full-scale sketch see No. 209 [987-1900] in this Catalogue). His third child, Charles Golding Constable, was born on 29 March. He accompanied Archdeacon John Fisher on his visitation of Berkshire in June, took No. 2 Lower Terrace, Hampstead, for his family during the summer and autumn and paid a visit to Fisher at Salisbury in November. [G Reynolds, 1973, p. 135] |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Summary | This outdoor sketch brilliantly captures the effect of broken sunlight falling through foliage. In May 1819 Constable expressed his delight in such subjects: 'Every tree seems full of blossom of some kind & the surface of the ground seems quite lovely'. The figure at the right may be the artist's wife, with one of their children. |
| Bibliographic references |
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| Other number | 234, plate 178 - Reynolds catalogue no. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | 323-1888 |
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| Record created | December 15, 1999 |
| Record URL |
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