This drawing is based upon the central section of Constable's oil painting Dedham Lock and Mill, which is also in the V&A's collection. It is likely to be a reworking of the painting, rather than a direct drawing from nature. The drawing, though, gives the scene a strikingly different character. Whereas the painting is bathed with sunlight and depicts busy water traffic, the drawing's dramatic use of tone creates an atmosphere of brooding melancholy. Line is hardly evident at all. Nearly all the forms are created with solid blocks of dark sepia ink, with few mid-tones. The tower of Dedham church can be seen in the distance, apparently threatened by the ominous and overhanging forms of the trees.
Physical description
Brown depiction of Dedham Church viewed from the Stour.
Place of Origin
England, Great Britain (drawn)
Date
1832-1836 (drawn)
Artist/maker
John Constable, born 1776 - died 1837 (artist)
Materials and Techniques
Pencil and sepia wash
Marks and inscriptions
'GILLING &'
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm, Width: 169 mm
Historical context note
'In 1836 Constable's two exhibits at the Royal Academy were the 'Cenotaph to the memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds' (now in the Tate Gallery, No. 1272) and the watercolour 'Stonehenge' (No. 395 [1629-1888]). He gave four lectures on 'The History of Landscape Painting' at the Royal Institution in May and June of this year and his last lecture, at Hampstead, on 25 July. Constable died on 31 March 1837. His almost completed painting 'Arundel Mill and Castle' (now in the Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, Ohio; see No. 379 [260-1888]) was exhibited posthumously at the Royal Academy.'
[G Reynolds, 1973, p. 233]
Descriptive line
Drawing, 'View on the Stour : Dedham Church in the distance' by Constable.
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
Grey, Anne and John Gage Constable. Impressions of Land, Sea and Sky Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2006. ISBN: 0642541566.
Exhibition catalogue.
Robert Hoozee, ed. British Vision. Observation and Imagination in British Art 1750-1950 / with contributions from Mark Evans, Mark Haworth-Booth and Stephen Calloway. Ghent: Museum voor Schone Kunsten; Mercatorfonds, 2007. ISBN: 978 90 6153 749 6
Exhibition catalogue
Catalogue of the Constable Collection, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973, pp. 233, 240
The following is an extract from the text of the entry:
“On thin laid paper, torn roughly along the right-hand edge, with the truncated watermark: GILLING & (for the completion of the watermark see No. 411 [250-1888]).
As Lt.-Col. C. A. Brooks has pointed out, the tower of Dedham Church is seen over the gate of Dedham Lock from a viewpoint close to that in No. 184 [FA 34]. This circumstance combined with the similar relationship which appears to exist between No. 411 [250-1888] and No. 347 [237-1888] suggests that both No. 410 [249-1888] and No. 411 [250-1888] are reworkings of earlier ideas rather than sketches after nature. No. 410 [249-1888] is probably a studio composition based upon the central portion of No. 184 [FA 34] "Dedham Lock and Mill" or one of the other versions listed in that entry. For a fuller discussion see "Constable at Work" by Graham Reynolds, Apollo, Vol. XCVI, July 1972, pp. 12-19.
(See note following No. 411 [250-1888]).”
Exhibition History
British Vision. Observation and Imagination in British Art 1750-1950 (Museum voor Schone Kunsten, Ghent 06/10/2007-13/01/2008)
Constable. Impressions of Land, Sea and Sky (Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington 05/07/2006-08/10/2006)
Constable. Impressions of Land, Sea and Sky (National Gallery of Australia, Canberra 03/03/2006-12/06/2006)
Constable (Tate 13/06/1991-15/09/1991)
Materials
Pencil
Subjects depicted
Stour; Dedham; Church towers
Categories
Drawings
Collection code
PDP
