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Stonehenge

Watercolour
1835 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Constable painted this watercolour at a sad time in his life. Both his wife, Maria, and his closest friend, John Fisher, had died, and his two eldest sons had left home. He is perhaps expressing his personal unhappiness in the watercolour, for the image is certainly a melancholy one. The painting was exhibited in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition of 1836. Some of the lines that accompanied this painting in the catalogue describe 'The mysterious monument of Stonehenge, standing remote on a bare and boundless heath...'. Constable himself probably wrote them.

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Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleStonehenge (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Watercolour
Brief description
Watercolour, 'Stonehenge' by Constable, 1835
Physical description
Watercolour of stonehenge with a colourful sky.
Dimensions
  • Height: 38.7cm
  • Width: 59.1cm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
'Stonehenge" The mysterious monument of Stonehenge, standing remote on a bare and boundless heath, as much unconnected with the events of past ages as it is with the uses of the present, carries you back beyond all historical records into the obscurity of a totally unknown period"' (Inscribed on the mount in ink in a careful script.)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Isabel Constable, daughter of the artist
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]
Subjects depicted
Places depicted
Summary
Constable painted this watercolour at a sad time in his life. Both his wife, Maria, and his closest friend, John Fisher, had died, and his two eldest sons had left home. He is perhaps expressing his personal unhappiness in the watercolour, for the image is certainly a melancholy one. The painting was exhibited in the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition of 1836. Some of the lines that accompanied this painting in the catalogue describe 'The mysterious monument of Stonehenge, standing remote on a bare and boundless heath...'. Constable himself probably wrote them.
Bibliographic references
  • Parris, Leslie and Ian Fleming-Williams, Constable London : The Tate Gallery, 1991. ISBN 1854370707 / 1854370715. 544 p. : ill. (some col.)
  • Making History : Antiquaries in Britain 1707-2007, London : Royal Academy of Arts, 2007 no.168
  • Catalogue of the Constable Collection, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973, p. 233
  • Evans, M., with N. Costaras and C. Richardson, John Constable. Oil Sketches from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: V&A, 2011, p. 33, fig. 31.
  • Lambert, Susan. Drawing: Technique & Purpose. London: Victoria & Albert Museum, 1981. p.53.
  • Timothy Wilcox, Constable and Salisbury. The Soul of Landscape London: Scala Publishers Ltd, 2011. ISBN: 978 1 85759 678 6.
  • Coombs, Katherine British watercolours : 1750-1950 . London: V&A Publications, 2012 p.73, pl.61
  • p. 177 Elizabeth Mankin Kornhauser and T. J. Barringer Thomas Cole's journey : Atlantic crossings New York : The Metropolitan Museum of Art, [2018]. ISBN: 9781588396402
  • Royal Academy of Arts Bicentenary Exhibition, 1768-1968, London : Royal Academy of Arts, 1968 555
  • La Peinture Romantique Anglaise et les Préraphaélites, Paris : Petit Palais, 1972 63
  • Taylor, Basil, Constable: Paintings, drawings and watercolours, London, Phaidon, 1973
Other number
395, plate 296 - Reynolds catalogue no.
Collection
Accession number
1629-1888

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Record createdFebruary 17, 2003
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