A house, cottage and trees by moonlight thumbnail 1
A house, cottage and trees by moonlight thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level H , Case WD, Shelf 20, Box C

A house, cottage and trees by moonlight

Drawing
ca. 1830-ca. 1836 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This wash drawing of an unidentified moonlit landscape is typical of Constable's last phase. He employed the medium of wash frequently in his later years, using it to produce expressionistic sketches that verged on abstraction. These were never intended for the public eye, and would have been considered unacceptable for exhibition by the standards of the day.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleA house, cottage and trees by moonlight (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Sepia and grey wash
Brief description
Draiwing, A house, cottage and trees by moonlight, by John Constable, sepia wash drawing, ca.1830-36
Physical description
A wash drawing depicting a house, cotage and trees by moonlight, under what appears to be a sky filled with rapidly moving clouds.
Dimensions
  • Height: 187mm
  • Width: 228mm
Style
Credit line
Given by Isabel Constable, daughter of the artist
Object history
Although the drawing is dated c. 1830 in the Inventory of Art Objects 1888, Renolds dates it to apporximately 1836 due to its resemblance to the last phase of Constable's draughtsmanship.
Historical context
‘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]

The loose, expressionistic brushwork and tendency toward abstraction is typical of Constable's late sketches (see also 250-1888).
Subjects depicted
Summary
This wash drawing of an unidentified moonlit landscape is typical of Constable's last phase. He employed the medium of wash frequently in his later years, using it to produce expressionistic sketches that verged on abstraction. These were never intended for the public eye, and would have been considered unacceptable for exhibition by the standards of the day.
Bibliographic reference
Catalogue of the Constable Collection, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973, pp. 233, 241
Other number
412, plate 307 - Reynolds catalogue no.
Collection
Accession number
248-1888

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Record createdOctober 20, 2005
Record URL
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