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Trees at Hampstead: The Path to Church

Oil Painting
1821 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

The artist described the view as 'a natural (but highly elegant) group of trees, ashes, elms, & oak &c - which will be of quite as much service as if I had bought the field and hedge row'. The spire of Hampstead parish church can be seen at the bottom left. Constable and his wife lie buried in the graveyard.

Object details

Category
Object type
TitleTrees at Hampstead: The Path to Church (popular title)
Materials and techniques
oil on canvas
Brief description
Oil sketch of trees at Hampstead by Constable, England, 19th century.
Physical description
Painting of a cloudy sky and tall trees.
Dimensions
  • Estimate height: 91.4cm
  • Estimate width: 72.4cm
  • Frame height: 122cm
  • Frame width: 104.5cm
  • Frame depth: 18.5cm
Dimensions taken from Catalogue of the Constable Collection, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973
Style
Credit line
Bequeathed by Isabel Constable as the gift of Maria Louisa, Isabel and Lionel Bicknell Constable
Object history
Bequeathed by Isabel Constable, as the gift of Maria Louisa, Isabel and Lionel Bicknell Constable, 1888
Historical context
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]
Subject depicted
Place depicted
Summary
The artist described the view as 'a natural (but highly elegant) group of trees, ashes, elms, & oak &c - which will be of quite as much service as if I had bought the field and hedge row'. The spire of Hampstead parish church can be seen at the bottom left. Constable and his wife lie buried in the graveyard.
Bibliographic references
  • Parris, Leslie and Fleming-Williams, Ian. Constable London : The Tate Gallery, 1991 no.115
  • 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).
  • Graham Reynolds, Catalogue of the Constable Collection, London: HMSO, 1973, pp. 135, 142
  • 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.
Other number
163, plate 168 - Reynolds catalogue no.
Collection
Accession number
1630-1888

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Record createdJuly 23, 2003
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