Physical description
Painting of a mill with large trees on the right-hand side in oil on paper.
Place of Origin
Dedham (probably, painted)
Date
ca. 1816 (painted)
Artist/maker
Constable, John (RA) (artist)
Materials and Techniques
oil on paper
Dimensions
Height: 18.1 cm (estimate)
Width: 24.8 cm (estimate)
Height: 452 mm (frame)
Width: 504 mm (frame)
Depth: 40 mm (frame)
Dimensions taken from Catalogue of the Constable Collection, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973
Object history note
Given by Isabel Constable, 1888
Historical context note
'In the year 1811 Constable's exhibits at the Royal Academy comprised 'Twilight', and 'Dedham Vale: morning' (now in the collection of Sir Richard Proby). He visited Suffolk in the spring and paid his first visit to Salisbury in the autumn: this was probably the occasion of his first meeting with John Fisher, who was to become his closest friend. His attachment to Maria Bicknell became known during this year, and he received her father's permission to write to her in October.'
[G Reynolds, 1973, p. 69]
Descriptive line
Oil painting, 'Dedham Mill', John Constable, ca. 1816
Bibliographic References (Citation, Note/Abstract, NAL no)
Parris, Leslie and Ian Fleming-Williams, Constable London : The Tate Gallery, 1991. ISBN 1854370707 / 1854370715. 544 p. : ill. (some col.). NAL Pressmark: Copy in NAL
Exhibition catalogue
Catalogue of the Constable Collection, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973, pp. 69, 76, 77
The following is an extract from the text of the entry:
"This is a sketch for No. 184 [F.A. 34], of 1820. Holmes, p. 242, dates No. 113 [145-1888] c.1812, and he is probably correct in thinking that it is some years earlier than the finished picture. It may be compared with the sketch for the 'Mill Stream' (Tate Gallery No. 1816) discussed in the note to No. 110 [166-1888], a comparison which helps to support a dating of c.1810-15 for this sketch.
Mr. Gilbert Davis has a pencil drawing of the subject seen from an almost identical viewpoint, but showing the water-wheel. Beckett (Burlington Magazine, Vol. XCVII, 1955, pp. 52-5) suggests that it may have been made in 1817, Probably the drawing and No. 113 [145-1888] are independent studies from nature of the same scene.
For further notes on the finished composition, variants and replicas, see note to No. 184 [F.A. 34].
Note on Nos. 109-113 [134-1888, 166-1888, 161-1888, 130-1888, 145-1888]
Nos. 109-113 form a miscellaneous and somewhat unhomogeneous group. Most of them have either been assigned to a date near 1811 or may be compared with another oil sketch assigned to that date. Accordingly, though their general character hardly warrants a dating more exact than c.1810-15 or within even wider limits, they are grouped together here. Their relationship to Nos. 100 [326-1888] and 101 [128-1888], the earliest oil sketches in the Museum to show the full effect of the revolution in Constable's style, helps to justify this grouping."
Materials
Paper; Oil paint
Techniques
Oil painting
Subjects depicted
Landscape; Canal, Lock
Categories
Paintings
Collection code
PDP
