Physical description
View of Golding Constable's house in oil. On the back was a label in ink which read "The house in which john Constable RA was born Painted by John Constable RA".
This is catalogue no.102 in Graham Reynolds "Catalogue of the Constabale Collection" (1960).
Place of Origin
Great Britain, UK (painted)
Date
ca. 1811 (painted)
Artist/maker
John Constable, born 1776 - died 1837 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
oil on millboard laid on panel
Dimensions
Height: 18.1 cm estimate, Width: 50.5 cm estimate
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]
A related painting, View of East Bergholt House, was included in the following sale at Christie's: Important Old Master & British Pictures, 6th December 2007, lot 63.
Descriptive line
Oil painting, 'Golding Constable's House, East Bergholt', John Constable, ca. 1811
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
Martin Gayford and Anne Lyles Constable Portraits. The painter and his circle London, National Portrait Gallery, 2009. ISBN: 13:978 1 85514 398 2.
Exhibition catalogue
Catalogue of the Constable Collection, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973, pp. 69, 70, 72
The following is an extract from the text of the entry:
"This painting is a long panoramic view, apparently from the garden of the house, with East Berghold Church seen towards the left-hand side. The left-hand portion of the painting is in a worse state of preservation, and appears to have been folded behind or detached from the righ at one time: only the right half is reproduced by Holmes, p. 58.
Holmes, p. 241, dates No. 102 [583-1888] c.1809; it is very similar in treatment to No. 101 [ 128-1888] and is accordingly listed here next to that sketch of 1811.
Notes on Nos. 100-104 [326-1888, 128-1888, 583-1888, 135-1888, 325-1888]
Nos. 100 [326-1888] and 101 [128-1888] are the earliest dated oil sketches in the Museum's collections to show the full originality of Constable's mature style, its vivid naturalism of colouring and boldness of handling. The earliest dated sketch in which these characteristics are applied to Suffolk scenery is probably the 'Country road near East Berghold' inscribed October 13th, 1809 E[ast] B[erghold]. This was Lot 116 recto (on the verso is a sketch of a country house) in the Gregory sale at Messrs. Sotheby's, 20 July 1949. This sketch was reproduced in monochrome in the sale catalogue and in colour as the frontispiece to the Arts Council's catalogue An Exhibition of Sketches & Drawings by John Constable from the collection of Dr. H. A. C. Gregory, M.C., 1949. In 'Fresh Light on John Constable' (Apollo, Vol. LXXXVII, 1968, pp. 227-30) Charles Rhyne draws attention to oil sketches dated 27 September 1810 and 30 September 1810 in the John G. Johnson collection, Philadelphia, and a landscape with houses dated 8 October 1810 in the collection of Mrs. Woodman. The style may be seen in embryo in some of the oil sketches Constable made of Lake District scenery in 1806: for instance in 'Keswick Lake' formerly in the possession of Sir Michael Sadler (L. ed. S., Pl. 32). The reasons for grouping Nos. 102 [583-1888], 103 [135-1888], and 104 [325-1888] with these two dated oil sketches have not been explained; they do not amount to a conclusive dating. Sketching in oils from nature was in fact prominent in Constable's practice in 1811, for he called on nature, and on 17 December Farington called on Constable to see the painted studies of landscapes from nature which he had made during the autumn (Greig, Vol. VI, p. 279; VII, p. 70). Another set of studies conveniently, though more loosely, grouped here with the appearance of Constable's completely matured naturalism is to be found in Nos. 109-113 [134-1888, 166-1888, 161-1888, 130-1888, 145-1888]."
Exhibition History
Constable Portraits: The Painter and His Circle (Compton Verney 27/06/2009-06/09/2009)
Constable Portraits: The Painter and His Circle (National Portrait Gallery 05/03/2009-14/06/2009)
Constable: a breath of fresh air (The Millennium Galleries, Sheffield 08/02/2003-27/04/2003)
John Constable, selected by Lucian Freud (Grand Palais 10/10/2002-13/01/2003)
Constable (Tate Gallery London 13/06/1991-15/09/1991)
Materials
Oil paint; Millboard; Panel
Techniques
Oil painting
Subjects depicted
East Bergholt
Categories
Paintings
Collection code
PDP
