Oil painting, 'A Donkey with a Foal: Study for "The Cornfield"', John Constable, ca. 1826

This is catalogue no.287 in Reynolds "Catalogue of the Constable Collection" (1960), plate 218.
Inscribed in ink on the back "L.C." [Lional Bicknell Constable]; also "J. Constable RA."

Notes from Reynolds :
This is a study for the group of two donkeys in Constable's painting "The Cornfield" which he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1826 and is now in the National Gallery, London.

At all periods Constable was fond of introducing donkeys into his paintings. In his letter of 3 December 1815 to Maria Bicknell he writes: "Yesterday was so very mild that I went painting in the field from a donkey that I wanted to introduce in a little picture".

Given by Isabel Constable

Given by Isabel Constable, 1888

Historical significance: This is a study for the group of two donkeys in 'The Cornfield' which was exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1826 and is now in the National Gallery (No. 130; Davies pp. 22-3). A donkey cropping the hedge in a similar attitude is to be seen in the 'Dedham Vale' of 1811 (collection of Sir Richard Proby). Holmes, in the Burlington Magazine, Vol. XII, 1907-8, p. 76, discussed whether No. 287 [Museum No. 790-1888] could be a sketch of 1811 for the earlier picture, which was then used again for 'The Cornfield'. He concluded that the sketch must be of the later date on grounds of style: this conclusion is fortified by the fact, which Holmes does not seem to have noticed, that the foal of the donkey is to be seen in No. 287 [Museum No. 790-1888], as in the picture 'The Cornfield'. This second donkey, which is head on to the spectator, is difficult to discern, and the subject of the sketch has hitherto been described in the Museum's catalogues as a single donkey browsing. There is a thumbnail sketch of a donkey, in a somewhat similar attitude to that of the mother, in the sketch-book No. 121, p. 32; [Museum No. 317-1888] and at all periods Constable was fond of introducing donkeys into his paintings. In his letter of 3 December 1815 to Maria Bicknell he writes: "Yesterday was so very mild that I went painting in the feild from a donkey that I wanted to introduce in a little picture" (Beckett, II, p. 162). Since the first version of 'The Cottage in a Cornfield' was ready for exhibition in 1817, and the drawing for it (No. 145 [Museum No. 828-1888]) was made c.1815, this sentence might refer to that composition (see No. 352 [Museum No. 1631-1888].

In 1826 Constable exhibited at the Royal Academy 'Landscape' ('The Cornfield') (National Gallery, No. 130) and 'A Mill at Gillingham in Dorsetshire' (see No. 288 [Museum No.1632-1888]). His sixth child, Alfred Abram, was born on 14 November.

Farm animals appear in many of Constable's landscapes. He once mentioned 'painting in the field from a donkey that I wanted to introduce in a little picture'. The donkey and foal in this study reappear in The Cornfield of 1826, one of Constable's most famous works. It is now in the National Gallery, London.

790-1888