Drawing of shipping near Ipswich, by John Constable

A pencil drawing of a ship, with sails furled, at anchor on a riverbank. Some low-lying buildings on the bank at lower right, rolling landscape in the distance.

Given by Isabel Constable, daughter of the artist

The drawing was made when Constable was returning from a visit to the Rev. F. H. Barnwell at Brightwell.

Scenes of shipping and boat-building occupied Constable for much of 1815; 'Boat-building near Flatford Mill' (Reynolds cat. no. 137), also painted in 1815, was exhibited at the Royal Academy that year.

In 1815 Constable exhibited five paintings and three drawings at the Royal Academy, including ‘Boat-building’ (No. 137). His mother died early this year and he was in Suffolk in May. He left London again for Suffolk on 6 July and remained there most of the year, being detained during December by his father’s serious illness.

[G Reynolds, 1973, p. 106]

Images of boat-building and shipping occupied a prominent place in Constable's work in 1815. Boat-building near Flatford Mill, an oil paintingalso in the Museum's collection and exhibited at the Royal Academy that year, is the best known work on this theme. This small drawing, on the other hand, was made during a journey home from visiting a friend near Ipswich. Many of Constable's drawings from 1815 centre on Suffolk, no doubt because he spent half the year there looking after his ailing father.

308-1888