Physical description
Painting of a cloudy sky and tall trees.
Place of Origin
Great Britain, UK (painted)
Date
1821 (painted)
Artist/maker
John Constable, born 1776 - died 1837 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
oil on canvas
Dimensions
Height: 91.4 cm estimate, Width: 72.4 cm estimate
Object history note
Bequeathed by Isabel Constable, as the gift of Maria Louisa, Isabel and Lionel Bicknell Constable, 1888
Historical context note
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]
Descriptive line
Oil sketch of trees at Hampstead by Constable, England, 19th century.
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
Morris, Edward, ed. Constable's Clouds: Paintings and Cloud Studies by John Constable , Edinburgh : National Galleries of Scotland ; Liverpool : National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside, c2000. 176 p. : ill. (some col.). ISBN 1903278058 (paperback), 1903278066 (hardback).
Exhibition catalogue
Graham Reynolds, Catalogue of the Constable Collection, London: HMSO, 1973, pp. 135, 142
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. It is described in her will as “the upright and large picture of ‘Trees at Hampstead’ which is sometimes called ‘The path to Church’”.
Hampstead Parish Church is just visible on the extreme left of No. 223 [1630-1888]. The painting is unfinished in some details, for example at the foot of the fence on the right.
Holmes, p. 245, dates c. 1821. Shirley (L. ed. S., pp. 116 and 117) tentatively identifies No. 223 [1630-1888] with the painting mentioned by Constable in his letter of 20 September 1821 to Fisher: “And independent of my jobs I have done some studies, carried further that I have yet done any, particularly a natural (but highly Elegant) group of trees. Ashes, Elms, and Oaks etc which will be of quite as much service to me as if I had bought the feild and Hedge Row, which contains them. and perhaps one time or another will fetch as much for my children. It is rather larger than a kitcat & upright”. The kitcat size is 36 x 28 ins. and No. 223 [1630-1888] differs from it only in being ½ in. wider, so the statement about size hardly applies, but in style and subject the identification is plausible. If it be accepted, the further suggestion made by Key, p. 61, that the picture was one of Constable’s exhibits at the Royal Academy in 1822, No. 314 ‘A Study of Trees from Nature’, may well be correct. The position of this exhibit indicates that it was an oil.
Evans, M., with N. Costaras and C. Richardson, John Constable. Oil Sketches from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London: V&A, 2011, p. 27, fig. 21.
Exhibition History
John Constable, selected by Lucian Freud (Grand Palais 10/10/2002-13/01/2003)
Constable's Clouds: Paintings and Cloud Studies by John Constable (National Galleries of Scotland 11/08/2000-29/10/2000)
Constable's Clouds: Paintings and Cloud Studies by John Constable (Walker Art Gallery 28/04/2000-16/07/2000)
Constable (Tate Gallery London 13/06/1991-15/09/1991)
Materials
Oil paint; Canvas
Techniques
Oil painting
Subjects depicted
Trees; Hampstead
Categories
Paintings
Collection code
PDP
