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Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Paintings, Room 88, The Edwin and Susan Davies Galleries

Old Sarum

Oil Painting
1829 (painted)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

This sketch depicts the abandoned medieval town of Old Sarum, near Salisbury. Constable remarked on its wild beauty and historical associations: 'The pomp of Kings, is now the Shepherd's humble pride'. He later published a print of the view and also painted a large watercolour of the subject.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleOld Sarum (popular title)
Materials and techniques
oil on thin card
Brief description
Oil painting, 'Old Sarum', John Constable, 1829
Physical description
Lanscape in blues and greens with figures.
Dimensions
  • Estimate height: 143mm
  • Estimate width: 210mm
  • Frame height: 453mm
  • Frame width: 504mm
  • Frame depth: 39mm
Dimensions taken from Catalogue of the Constable Collection, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973
Style
Marks and inscriptions
'ML' (Inscribed in ink on back (Maria Louisa Constable))
Credit line
Given by Isabel Constable
Object history
Given by Isabel Constable, 1888
Historical context
'Constable was elected R.A. on 10 February 1829. He exhibited 'Hadleigh Castle' (now in the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon; see No. 127 [D.234-1888] in this Catalogue) and a landscape of a "rich cottage". He paid his last two visits to Fisher at Salisbury, in July and in November. His preparations for English Landscape Scenery got under way in this year: the earliest letter on the subject to Lucas printed by Shirley (S.: L., p. 20) is dated 28 August 1829.'

[G Reynolds, 1973, p.190]
Subject depicted
Place depicted
Summary
This sketch depicts the abandoned medieval town of Old Sarum, near Salisbury. Constable remarked on its wild beauty and historical associations: 'The pomp of Kings, is now the Shepherd's humble pride'. He later published a print of the view and also painted a large watercolour of the subject.
Bibliographic references
  • Parris, Leslie and Fleming-Williams, Ian. Constable London : The Tate Gallery, 1991 no.193
  • Catalogue of the Constable Collection, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973, pp. 190, 194-195
Other number
322, plate 233 - Reynolds catalogue no.
Collection
Accession number
163-1888

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Record createdJuly 23, 2003
Record URL
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