Physical description
Painting of a donkey standing by a gate, in front of a cottage in a cornfield.
Place of Origin
Great Britain, UK (probably, painted)
Date
ca. 1817-ca.1833 (painted)
Artist/maker
John Constable, born 1776 - died 1837 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
oil on canvas
Marks and inscriptions
'No. 3 Cottage in a Corn field--John Constable 35 Charlotte Street'
Dimensions
Height: 62 cm estimate, Width: 51.5 cm estimate, Height: 92 cm Frame, Width: 79 cm Frame
Object history note
Bequeathed by Isabel Constable as the gift of Maria Louisa Constable, Isabel Constable and Lionel Bicknell Constable, 1888
Historical context note
'In 1833 Constable exhibited four oil paintings and three drawings at the Royal Academy: the former included 'Englefield House, Berkshire ... morning' (see Nos. 340-344 [345-1888, 255-1888, 1258-1888, 1258a-1888, 1258b-1888]) and 'Cottage in a Cornfield' (No. 352 [1631-1888]). He gave his first lecture in Hampstead this year. '
[G Reynolds, 1973, p. 210]
Descriptive line
Oil painting, 'The Cottage in a Cornfield', John Constable, ca. 1817-ca. 1833
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.).
Exhibition catalogue
Graham Reynolds, Catalogue of the Constable Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973, pp. 210-212
The following is an extract from the text of the entry:
The following is an extract from the text of the entry:
“This painting is one of five works bequeathed to the Museum in 1888 by Miss
Isabel Constable with the request that they should be described as a gift from Maria Louisa Constable, Isabel Constable and Lionel Bicknell Constable.
A label formerly on the back of the frame but now preserved in the Department of Paintings is inscribed by the artist in ink, apparently touched with oil paint No 3. Cottage in a Corn field- John Constable 35 Charlotte Street (another line has been torn off). This label is in the form used by the artist for his exhibits at the Royal Academy (see also those on Nos. 254 [FA 33] and 301 [FA 35]). It is written on the back of a part of a proof of the introduction to English Landscape Scenery, in the form printed as No. 3 by Shirley (S. : L., pp. 219-20) and dated 28 May 1832. The pencil drawing No. 145 [828-1888] of c.1815 is a sketch for No. 352 [1631-1888].
There has been confusion over the date of this version of the composition. Constable exhibited two groups of works with similar titles:
Royal Academy 1817, No. 141 A Cottage.
British Institution 1818, No. 129 A Cottage in a Cornfield.
(Framed measurements 1 ft. 7 ins x 1 ft. 5 ins.)
Royal Academy 1833, No. 344 Cottage in a Cornfield.
British Institution 1834, No. 128 A Cottage in a field of corn.
(Framed measurements 2 ft. 10 ins x 2 ft. 6 ins.)
It may be supposed that in each case the works shown at the British Institution were those exhibited in the previous year at the Royal Academy. Taking into account the closer affinity of No. 352 [1631-1888] with Constable's earlier manner, and its agreement with Leslie's description quoted below, Holmes identified it with the exhibits of 1817 and 1818. However, the label on the back can only refer to an exhibition after 1832; No. 352 [1631-1888] must therefore be identical with 'The Cottage in a Cornfield' shown at the Royal Academy in 1833. That this was so had been conjectured from the measurements given in the British Institution catalogue of 1834, which agree well with No. 352 [1631-1888], whereas those for 1818 do not (L. ed. M., pp. 71 and 411; Beckett, III, p. 101). Holmes is probably correct in identifying No. 352 [1631-1888] with the painting 'The Cottage in a Corn Field' which was Lot 52 in the Executors' sale, 16 May 1838, bought by Burton (that is to say, bought in) for £27 6s. The presence of No. 352 [1631-1888] in the Constable Bequest to the Museum is consistent with its having been bought in at the sale. It was in the possession of Miss [Maria] Constable in 1845, as is shown by the description of the plate in Lucas's supplementary edition of the mezzotints, published in that year (S. 45).
The earlier painting of 'The Cottage in a Cornfield' appears to have been sold from the British Institution in 1818, for Shirley (L. ed. S., p. 101) prints a letter communicating an offer of £20 for it, and in his entry of 3 April 1818 Farington records that Constable had sold two of his landscapes, one for 45 guineas, the other for 20 guineas (Greig, Vol. VIII, p. 173). Describing Constable's exhibits of 1818, Leslie writes (L. ed. S., p. 101) " ... to the British Gallery he sent, 'A Cottage in a Cornfield', probably exhibited at the Academy the year before. The cottage in this little picture is closely surrounded by the corn, which on the side most shaded from the sun, remains green, while over the rest of the field it has ripened; one of many circumstances that may be discovered in Constable's landscapes, which mark them as the productions of an incessant observer of nature".
From this description it appears that Leslie took No. 352 [1631-1888] (which he will have known in the Constable family's collection) as the painting exhibited in 1818. It is also possible that the earlier picture was of the same composition, for Leslie was an established artist and was getting to know Constable at the time of which he is writing. If Shirley is justified in saying (S. : L., p. 209) that Lucas's mezzotint of the subject (S. 45) was contemplated in 1831, there would be reason to believe that No. 352 [1631-1888] was in existence before 1833. The reference he gives is confusing. He refers, p.44, to the draft arrangement No. 44, of 19 February 1831, but does not in the footnotes to that document identify any of the plates with 'The Cottage in the Cornfield'. There are, however, two entries of the 'Woodmans Cottage' in the draft arrangement which in the notes and index Shirley identifies as 'Willy Lott's House'. It seems likely that this is an oversight, and that the intention was to identify the 'Woodmans Cottage' with 'The Cottage in a Cornfield': there would be some plausibility in such an identification. A possible reason for the combination in No. 352 [1631-1888] of an early manner of painting with a late date of exhibition is that it may have been painted sometime before 1833, possibly as a larger replica of the exhibit of 18 1 7 and that Constable brought it out when he wanted to increase the number of works he could send in for exhibition in 1833. Thus the meaning of the phrase in his letter of 3 April 1833 to Leslie (L. ed. S., p. 299) "I have brushed up my Cottage into a pretty look ... " may be that he has been retouching an earlier painting for the exhibition. L. C. W. Bonacina in an article 'John Constable's Centenary: His Position as a Painter of Weather' (Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Vol. 63, 1937, No. 272, pp. 483-90, quoted by Badt, p. 47) instances No. 352 as an example of Constable's ability to suggest a succession of changes in the sky: "In the 'Cottage in a Cornfield' (Victoria and Albert Museum) we find a still scene of fierce noonday heat in July or August and get a powerful impression of fast-growing cumulus clouds. That lonely cottage by the ripening corn will hardly escape a crashing storm that afternoon!"
For a reference in Constable's correspondence to a sketch of a donkey which might be related to a version of this composition, see the note to No. 287 [790-1888].”
Evans, M., with N. Costaras and C. Richardson, John Constable. Oil Sketches from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: V&A, 2011, p. 32, fig. 29.
Exhibition History
Constable (Tate 13/06/1991-15/09/1991)
Materials
Oil paint; Canvas
Techniques
Oil painting
Subjects depicted
Landscape
Categories
Paintings
Collection code
PDP
