JOHN CONSTABLE The Making of a Master

Contents

foreword

Introduction

o r i g i n s

o u t d o o r o i l s k e t c h s a n d s t u d i e s

c o l l e c t o r

c o p y i n g

m e t h o d s

s o u r c e s

c a n o n

notes

bibliography

index

7

9

39

53

77

91

109

119

151

176180188

Contents

foreword

Introduction

o r i g i n s

o u t d o o r o i l s k e t c h s a n d s t u d i e s

c o l l e c t o r

c o p y i n g

m e t h o d s

s o u r c e s

c a n o n

notes

bibliography

index

7

9

39

53

77

91

109

119

151

176180188

Detail of no. 12

While his contemporaries J.M.W. Turner and Thomas Girtinwere the children of London tradesmen who acquired theelements of draughtsmanship as teenage apprentices,Constable was the son of a well-to-do farmer, mill ownerand merchant, and he initially learned to paint and draw as agentlemanly pursuit. It was thus as a fellow amateur, albeitof inferior social status and artistic skill, that he wasintroduced to ‘the leader of taste in the fashionable world’,Sir George Beaumont, probably in 1795while the baronetwas visiting Dedham.1 Attributing this encounter to ‘theanxious and parental attention of his mother’, Constablelater affirmed that it had ‘entirely influenced his futurelife’.2 At the time, the concept of an ‘amateur’ remained freeof the pejorative associations of a standard of performanceinferior to that of a professional, and retained its originalmeaning of a lover of the arts.3 It was in this sense that thecollector John Sheepshanks thanked Constable in 1833as an ‘Amateur in prints’ for the loan of a prized volume of etchings.4 Use of this term for one who practices the artswithout payment only gradually became current duringConstable’s lifetime.

Amateurs and professionalsThe diarist John Evelyn was a consummate amateur, who reflected the customary view of the social elite thatgentlemen with the means and leisure to cultivate the artswere innately superior to ‘mechanical capricious persons’ of ‘a mean condition’, who mere ‘necessity renders…industrious’.5 Such amateurs as the lawyer William Tavernerand the East India merchant Richard Beauvoir were talentedwatercolourists, while their professional contemporariesAlexander Cozens and Paul Sandby were employed asdrawing masters teaching, respectively, trainee mariners atTrinity House and student gunners at Woolwich Arsenal.6

Beauvoir’s own teacher was George Lambert, a convivial

intermediary between amateur and professional artists, whocombined landscape painting with a salaried post at CoventGarden Theatre, and in 1761was elected chairman of thenewly founded Society of Artists of Great Britain (see fig.43).7 In 1770 the first President of the recently-founded RoyalAcademy, Sir Joshua Reynolds insisted that ‘intellectualdignity…ennobles the painter’s art’, raising it above ‘the meremechanick’; and obtained official sanction for this positionin 1773when he was awarded a doctorate from the Universityof Oxford.8

Nevertheless, the distinction between amateurs andprofessionals was sometimes imprecise. For example,Thomas Jones, the younger son of a Radnorshire landowner,spent two years at Jesus College Oxford before becoming astudent of Richard Wilson, and eked out a living as an artistfrom 1765 until 1787, when an inheritance allowed him to retire to his family estates as a country squire.9 His nearcontemporary Thomas Kerrich graduated from Cambridge,and earned a silver medal for drawing from the Antwerpacademy, but made a career as a university librarian andantiquarian, making numerous drawings of medievalbuildings, costume and armour.10 Jones had given occasionallessons to Beaumont (fig. 65), who was an honorary exhibitorat the Royal Academy between 1794–1825, and represents the final embodiment of a concept of gentleman amateurwhose origins were rooted in the humanist ideals of SirThomas Elyot.11

With tutors including Cozens, his son John RobertCozens, and Girtin, Beaumont was esteemed as the leadingamateur painter of the day, and was even mentioned as apotential president of the Royal Academy.12 In 1806 he was a founder of the British Institution which mountedexhibitions of historic and modern art, provided facilities forstudents to copy the old masters, awarded premiums to artistsand purchased their work.xiii Beaumont acquired the only

9

Origins: Seeking the truth at second hand

Detail of no. 12

While his contemporaries J.M.W. Turner and Thomas Girtinwere the children of London tradesmen who acquired theelements of draughtsmanship as teenage apprentices,Constable was the son of a well-to-do farmer, mill ownerand merchant, and he initially learned to paint and draw as agentlemanly pursuit. It was thus as a fellow amateur, albeitof inferior social status and artistic skill, that he wasintroduced to ‘the leader of taste in the fashionable world’,Sir George Beaumont, probably in 1795while the baronetwas visiting Dedham.1 Attributing this encounter to ‘theanxious and parental attention of his mother’, Constablelater affirmed that it had ‘entirely influenced his futurelife’.2 At the time, the concept of an ‘amateur’ remained freeof the pejorative associations of a standard of performanceinferior to that of a professional, and retained its originalmeaning of a lover of the arts.3 It was in this sense that thecollector John Sheepshanks thanked Constable in 1833as an ‘Amateur in prints’ for the loan of a prized volume of etchings.4 Use of this term for one who practices the artswithout payment only gradually became current duringConstable’s lifetime.

Amateurs and professionalsThe diarist John Evelyn was a consummate amateur, who reflected the customary view of the social elite thatgentlemen with the means and leisure to cultivate the artswere innately superior to ‘mechanical capricious persons’ of ‘a mean condition’, who mere ‘necessity renders…industrious’.5 Such amateurs as the lawyer William Tavernerand the East India merchant Richard Beauvoir were talentedwatercolourists, while their professional contemporariesAlexander Cozens and Paul Sandby were employed asdrawing masters teaching, respectively, trainee mariners atTrinity House and student gunners at Woolwich Arsenal.6

Beauvoir’s own teacher was George Lambert, a convivial

intermediary between amateur and professional artists, whocombined landscape painting with a salaried post at CoventGarden Theatre, and in 1761was elected chairman of thenewly founded Society of Artists of Great Britain (see fig.43).7 In 1770 the first President of the recently-founded RoyalAcademy, Sir Joshua Reynolds insisted that ‘intellectualdignity…ennobles the painter’s art’, raising it above ‘the meremechanick’; and obtained official sanction for this positionin 1773when he was awarded a doctorate from the Universityof Oxford.8

Nevertheless, the distinction between amateurs andprofessionals was sometimes imprecise. For example,Thomas Jones, the younger son of a Radnorshire landowner,spent two years at Jesus College Oxford before becoming astudent of Richard Wilson, and eked out a living as an artistfrom 1765 until 1787, when an inheritance allowed him to retire to his family estates as a country squire.9 His nearcontemporary Thomas Kerrich graduated from Cambridge,and earned a silver medal for drawing from the Antwerpacademy, but made a career as a university librarian andantiquarian, making numerous drawings of medievalbuildings, costume and armour.10 Jones had given occasionallessons to Beaumont (fig. 65), who was an honorary exhibitorat the Royal Academy between 1794–1825, and represents the final embodiment of a concept of gentleman amateurwhose origins were rooted in the humanist ideals of SirThomas Elyot.11

With tutors including Cozens, his son John RobertCozens, and Girtin, Beaumont was esteemed as the leadingamateur painter of the day, and was even mentioned as apotential president of the Royal Academy.12 In 1806 he was a founder of the British Institution which mountedexhibitions of historic and modern art, provided facilities forstudents to copy the old masters, awarded premiums to artistsand purchased their work.xiii Beaumont acquired the only

9

Origins: Seeking the truth at second hand

3

Claude Lorrain, Landscape with

Hagar and the Angel, 1646

Oil on canvas mounted on wood,

52 × 42.3 cm (20½ × 16½ in)

National Gallery, London

Presented by Sir George

Beaumont (NG 61)

This work was the favourite

of Sir George Beaumont,

bought in 1785. When giving

his collection to the National

Gallery he asked that this

painting remain with him

until his death. Constable

is known to have copied this

picture when in Beaumont’s

possession.

marble by Michelangelo (1475–1564) in England, thecircularVirgin and Child with St. John , which his widowgave to the Royal Academy.14 His most seminal achievementwas the assembly of an exquisite collection of paintings,including major works by Claude Lorrain, Peter Paul Rubensand Canaletto, as well as recent British pictures by RichardWilson and David Wilkie, which he gave as a foundation giftfor the National Gallery.15 Beaumont reputedly treated hisfavourite painting, Claude’s Hagar and the Angel (cat. no. 110),‘as a man would deal with a child he loved: he travelled withit: carried it about with him; and valued it … beyond anypicture that he had’.16 Thus it was that this classic landscapeaccompanied him to Dedham, apparently stored under theroof of his carriage, where it was the first painting by Claudeto be seen by Constable.17

The copying of prints was traditionally the preliminarystage in acquiring draughtsmanship, and given Beaumont’spatrician tastes, it was perhaps fortuitous that the youngConstable showed him, as evidence of his skill, ‘some copiesmade…in pen and ink from Dorigny’s engravings of theCartoons of Raphael’, with which the baronet graciously‘expressed himself pleased’.18 The seven large engravingsafter the Vatican Cartoons by Raphael which had earnedNicholas Dorigny a knighthood from George I remainedthe principal reproductions of these canonical works untilthey were the subject of an early photography campaign in1858.19 Constable’s three conscientious ink and wash copiesof these prints (cat. no. 3; R.95.1–3) reveal the novice artist’s

10 Origins: Seeking the truth at second hand

struggle to capture Raphael’s portentous expressions andgestures (cat. no. 4). Over forty years later he informed hisaudience in a lecture that ‘the lovely pastoral scenery of thatnoble cartoon, The Charge to Peter, is probably familiar to allmy auditors’.20 Another of Constable’s early student exercisesis a copy of an engraving after Claude’s Embarkation of Carloand Ubaldo, which he punctiliously inscribed: Claude GeleeLe Lorrain pinx. J. Constable del. 1795 (R. 95.4).While staying with his uncle Thomas Allen at Edmonton

in the summer of 1796 Constable became acquainted withlocal antiquarians and professional artists including JohnCranch and John Thomas Smith.21 The former was largelyself-taught, his modest ability leavened by high-flownartistic ideals, as is shown by his Monks with a lantern in amoonlit landscape , painted in 1795 (fig. 42).22 This is apastiche of Wilson’s ‘Landskip with hermits’ known asSolitude (1762), of which Constable later owned an etching(no. 3.17), with the addition of dramatic nocturnal lightingreminiscent of the work of Joseph Wright of Derby.23

Painter’s ReadingIn September 1796 the good natured Cranch provided hisyoung protégé with a list of ‘Painter’s Reading, and hint ortwo respecting study’.24 This comprised Leonardo da Vinci ATreatise of Painting (1st ed. 1721), Roger de Piles The Principlesof Painting (1743), William Hogarth The Analysis of Beauty(1st ed. 1753), Charles du Fresnoy The Art of Painting (1st ed.1695), Daniel Webb An Inquiry into the Beauties of Painting

3

Claude Lorrain, Landscape with

Hagar and the Angel, 1646


52 × 42.3 cm (20½ × 16½ in)


Presented by Sir George

Beaumont (NG 61)

This work was the favourite

of Sir George Beaumont,

bought in 1785. When giving

his collection to the National

Gallery he asked that this

painting remain with him

until his death. Constable

is known to have copied this

picture when in Beaumont’s

possession.

marble by Michelangelo (1475–1564) in England, thecircularVirgin and Child with St. John , which his widowgave to the Royal Academy.14 His most seminal achievementwas the assembly of an exquisite collection of paintings,including major works by Claude Lorrain, Peter Paul Rubensand Canaletto, as well as recent British pictures by RichardWilson and David Wilkie, which he gave as a foundation giftfor the National Gallery.15 Beaumont reputedly treated hisfavourite painting, Claude’s Hagar and the Angel (cat. no. 110),‘as a man would deal with a child he loved: he travelled withit: carried it about with him; and valued it … beyond anypicture that he had’.16 Thus it was that this classic landscapeaccompanied him to Dedham, apparently stored under theroof of his carriage, where it was the first painting by Claudeto be seen by Constable.17

The copying of prints was traditionally the preliminarystage in acquiring draughtsmanship, and given Beaumont’spatrician tastes, it was perhaps fortuitous that the youngConstable showed him, as evidence of his skill, ‘some copiesmade…in pen and ink from Dorigny’s engravings of theCartoons of Raphael’, with which the baronet graciously‘expressed himself pleased’.18 The seven large engravingsafter the Vatican Cartoons by Raphael which had earnedNicholas Dorigny a knighthood from George I remainedthe principal reproductions of these canonical works untilthey were the subject of an early photography campaign in1858.19 Constable’s three conscientious ink and wash copiesof these prints (cat. no. 3; R.95.1–3) reveal the novice artist’s


struggle to capture Raphael’s portentous expressions andgestures (cat. no. 4). Over forty years later he informed hisaudience in a lecture that ‘the lovely pastoral scenery of thatnoble cartoon, The Charge to Peter, is probably familiar to allmy auditors’.20 Another of Constable’s early student exercisesis a copy of an engraving after Claude’s Embarkation of Carloand Ubaldo, which he punctiliously inscribed: Claude GeleeLe Lorrain pinx. J. Constable del. 1795 (R. 95.4).While staying with his uncle Thomas Allen at Edmonton

in the summer of 1796 Constable became acquainted withlocal antiquarians and professional artists including JohnCranch and John Thomas Smith.21 The former was largelyself-taught, his modest ability leavened by high-flownartistic ideals, as is shown by his Monks with a lantern in amoonlit landscape , painted in 1795 (fig. 42).22 This is apastiche of Wilson’s ‘Landskip with hermits’ known asSolitude (1762), of which Constable later owned an etching(no. 3.17), with the addition of dramatic nocturnal lightingreminiscent of the work of Joseph Wright of Derby.23

Painter’s ReadingIn September 1796 the good natured Cranch provided hisyoung protégé with a list of ‘Painter’s Reading, and hint ortwo respecting study’.24 This comprised Leonardo da Vinci ATreatise of Painting (1st ed. 1721), Roger de Piles The Principlesof Painting (1743), William Hogarth The Analysis of Beauty(1st ed. 1753), Charles du Fresnoy The Art of Painting (1st ed.1695), Daniel Webb An Inquiry into the Beauties of Painting

13

Romano in his long Latin poem De arte graphica. This wastranslated into French with a commentary by Roger de Pilesand into English by the poet laureate John Dryden, althoughCranch seems to have preferred the ‘spirited and elegant’translation of William Mason, with scholarly notes byJoshua Reynolds. 30 Du Fresnoy’s traditional analogy between poetry and painting was expanded to include music and drama by the Abbé Jean Baptise Dubos who noted that the great difference between the atmosphericconditions of Italy and Flanders ‘is observable in the paintedskies of Titian and Rubens’.31 In The Principles of Painting, de Piles advocated the colourism of the Venetian school andRubens, insisting that painting should communicate a stateof mind. His chapter ‘Of Landskip’ distinguished ‘the heroick‘ from ‘the pastoral or rural’, calling the former ‘an agreeableillusion, and a sort of inchantment … as Poussin … so happilyexpressed it’, while the latter showed ‘the caprice of nature …simple, without ornament, and without artifice; but with all those graces with which she adorns herself much more,when left to herself, than when constrained by art’.32

The polymath and connoisseur Francesco Algarotti had been lionized by English society during the 1730s, and his Essay on Painting was dedicated to the Society ofArts, which had been founded in 1754. It lists as ‘The mosteminent landscape painters’: Nicolas Poussin, whose diligentworks were ‘more indebted…to the descriptions of Pausanias,than to nature and truth’; Claude Lorrain, ‘who appliedhimself chiefly to express the various phenomena of light,especially those perceivable in the heavens’; and Titian, ‘the Homer of landscape’, whose St. Peter Martyr Altarpieceincluded ‘perhaps, the finest landscape, that ever issued from mortal hands’.33

The painter Jonathan Richardson the elder mentionedlittle about landscape in his essays ‘on painting andconnoisseurship’ which were advocated by Cranch, but his‘Essay on Prints’, published with them in 1792, esteemed theDutch engraver Antonie Waterloo as ‘beyond all others inlandscape, his subject is perfectly rural and simple… and hisexecution shews him a consummate master; every object he touches has the character of nature, but he particularlyexcels in the foliage of his trees… Waterloo saw nature with

(1st ed. 1760), Francesco Algarotti An Essay on Painting (1764),Jean Baptise Dubos Critical Reflections on Poetry, Painting,and Music (1st ed. 1748), ‘a small tract’ by Anton RaphaelMengs, perhaps Sketches on the Art of Painting (1782), Gérardde Lairesse The Art of Painting in all its Branches (1st ed. 1738),Jonathan Richardson the elder The Works of Mr. JonathanRichardson (1st ed. 1773), Jonathan Richardson the elder andyounger An Account of the Statues, Bas-reliefs, Drawings, andPictures in Italy, France, &c (1st ed. 1722), and finally JoshuaReynolds The Discourses on Art (printed separately 1769–1790;1st complete ed. 1797). As these books evidently provided thefoundations of Constable’s ideas on painting, they will beconsidered here at some length.The earliest, and the first on this list, was A Treatise of

Painting, compiled in the mid-sixteenth century from the notes of Leonardo da Vinci by his heir Francesco Melziand first published in 1651. Its English translation by themapmaker, bookseller and Freemason John Senex andWilliam Taylor appeared in 1721. With numerous diagrams,this promoted a Newtonian approach to the visual arts aimedat those interested in experimental knowledge, as much aspracticing artists.25 Copies ‘had become so scarce, and risen to a price so extravagant, that to supply the demand, it wasfound necessary, in the year 1796 to reprint it as it stood’, and a new translation by the painter John Francis Rigaudfollowed in 1802.26

The Art of Painting in all its Branches by the ‘DutchPoussin’, Gérard de Lairesse, was recommended to Constablefor its ‘many usefull hints and helps of study, and manyingenious things to facilitate practice.’27 Observing that ‘afine Landskip … consists principally in an orderly Dispositionof Lights against Darkness; whence arises the good Harmony’,de Lairesse cited as famous exponents of modern Landskipthe Dutch painters Allart van Everdingen, Adam Pynacker,Jacob van Ruisdael and Frederik de Moucheron.28 De Lairesseasserted that ‘Nature is modern, that is, imperfect: But she isAntique and perfect, when we judiciously adorn her with …magnificent … Remains of Antiquity’.29

Charles du Fresnoy had been inspired by Horace’s Arts poetica to liken painting to poetry, and accorded pre-eminence to Raphael, Michelangelo and Giulio


4

John Constable, Dedham Vale

from the Coombs, 1802

Oil on canvas, 43.5 × 34.4 cm

(17½ × 13½ in)

Victoria and Albert

Museum, London,

Given by Isabel Constable

(V&A: 124–1888)

This is an early example of

Constable combining the

influence of the old masters with

the direct observation of nature.

Here he adapts the

compositional pattern from

Claude’s Hagar and the Angel

(National Gallery, London) and

combines it with a view looking

towards Dedham village.

13

Romano in his long Latin poem De arte graphica. This wastranslated into French with a commentary by Roger de Pilesand into English by the poet laureate John Dryden, althoughCranch seems to have preferred the ‘spirited and elegant’translation of William Mason, with scholarly notes byJoshua Reynolds. 30 Du Fresnoy’s traditional analogy between poetry and painting was expanded to include music and drama by the Abbé Jean Baptise Dubos who noted that the great difference between the atmosphericconditions of Italy and Flanders ‘is observable in the paintedskies of Titian and Rubens’.31 In The Principles of Painting, de Piles advocated the colourism of the Venetian school andRubens, insisting that painting should communicate a stateof mind. His chapter ‘Of Landskip’ distinguished ‘the heroick‘ from ‘the pastoral or rural’, calling the former ‘an agreeableillusion, and a sort of inchantment … as Poussin … so happilyexpressed it’, while the latter showed ‘the caprice of nature …simple, without ornament, and without artifice; but with all those graces with which she adorns herself much more,when left to herself, than when constrained by art’.32

The polymath and connoisseur Francesco Algarotti had been lionized by English society during the 1730s, and his Essay on Painting was dedicated to the Society ofArts, which had been founded in 1754. It lists as ‘The mosteminent landscape painters’: Nicolas Poussin, whose diligentworks were ‘more indebted…to the descriptions of Pausanias,than to nature and truth’; Claude Lorrain, ‘who appliedhimself chiefly to express the various phenomena of light,especially those perceivable in the heavens’; and Titian, ‘the Homer of landscape’, whose St. Peter Martyr Altarpieceincluded ‘perhaps, the finest landscape, that ever issued from mortal hands’.33

The painter Jonathan Richardson the elder mentionedlittle about landscape in his essays ‘on painting andconnoisseurship’ which were advocated by Cranch, but his‘Essay on Prints’, published with them in 1792, esteemed theDutch engraver Antonie Waterloo as ‘beyond all others inlandscape, his subject is perfectly rural and simple… and hisexecution shews him a consummate master; every object he touches has the character of nature, but he particularlyexcels in the foliage of his trees… Waterloo saw nature with

(1st ed. 1760), Francesco Algarotti An Essay on Painting (1764),Jean Baptise Dubos Critical Reflections on Poetry, Painting,and Music (1st ed. 1748), ‘a small tract’ by Anton RaphaelMengs, perhaps Sketches on the Art of Painting (1782), Gérardde Lairesse The Art of Painting in all its Branches (1st ed. 1738),Jonathan Richardson the elder The Works of Mr. JonathanRichardson (1st ed. 1773), Jonathan Richardson the elder andyounger An Account of the Statues, Bas-reliefs, Drawings, andPictures in Italy, France, &c (1st ed. 1722), and finally JoshuaReynolds The Discourses on Art (printed separately 1769–1790;1st complete ed. 1797). As these books evidently provided thefoundations of Constable’s ideas on painting, they will beconsidered here at some length.The earliest, and the first on this list, was A Treatise of

Painting, compiled in the mid-sixteenth century from the notes of Leonardo da Vinci by his heir Francesco Melziand first published in 1651. Its English translation by themapmaker, bookseller and Freemason John Senex andWilliam Taylor appeared in 1721. With numerous diagrams,this promoted a Newtonian approach to the visual arts aimedat those interested in experimental knowledge, as much aspracticing artists.25 Copies ‘had become so scarce, and risen to a price so extravagant, that to supply the demand, it wasfound necessary, in the year 1796 to reprint it as it stood’, and a new translation by the painter John Francis Rigaudfollowed in 1802.26

The Art of Painting in all its Branches by the ‘DutchPoussin’, Gérard de Lairesse, was recommended to Constablefor its ‘many usefull hints and helps of study, and manyingenious things to facilitate practice.’27 Observing that ‘afine Landskip … consists principally in an orderly Dispositionof Lights against Darkness; whence arises the good Harmony’,de Lairesse cited as famous exponents of modern Landskipthe Dutch painters Allart van Everdingen, Adam Pynacker,Jacob van Ruisdael and Frederik de Moucheron.28 De Lairesseasserted that ‘Nature is modern, that is, imperfect: But she isAntique and perfect, when we judiciously adorn her with …magnificent … Remains of Antiquity’.29

Charles du Fresnoy had been inspired by Horace’s Arts poetica to liken painting to poetry, and accorded pre-eminence to Raphael, Michelangelo and Giulio


4

John Constable, Dedham Vale

from the Coombs, 1802


(17½ × 13½ in)

Victoria and Albert

Museum, London,

Given by Isabel Constable

(V&A: 124–1888)

This is an early example of

Constable combining the

influence of the old masters with

the direct observation of nature.

Here he adapts the

compositional pattern from

Claude’s Hagar and the Angel

(National Gallery, London) and

combines it with a view looking

towards Dedham village.

14 Sketches and Exhibition Paintings, 1819–28 15

10

John Constable after Dorigny,

Christ’s Charge to Peter, after

Raphael, 1795

Ink and sepia wash on paper,

48.9 × 74.6 cm (19½ × 29½ in)

The Victor Batte-Lay Trust,

Colchester (R.95.1)

Raphael’s Sistine Cartoons had

been purchased on behalf of

Charles I in 1623 and were

engraved in 1711–19 by

Nicholas Dorigny. This

drawing, signed and dated

(17)95, is one of Constable’s

three surviving copies of these

engravings after the Cartoons.

8

Nicholas Dorigny, after

Raphael, Christ’s Charge to

Peter, 1719

Etching and engraving,

53.4 × 75.2 cm (21 × 29½ in)

Victoria and Albert Museum,

London (V&A: 20284)

This engraving is taken from

one of seven full size cartoons

designed by Raphael for

tapestries in the Sistine

Chapel. This print is in reverse

of the cartoon from which it is

derived but is faithful in

its compositional detail.

Constable’s copies of the

engraving unknowingly

mimic this reversal of the

original design.

14 Sketches and Exhibition Paintings, 1819–28 15

10

John Constable after Dorigny,

Christ’s Charge to Peter, after

Raphael, 1795

Ink and sepia wash on paper,

48.9 × 74.6 cm (19½ × 29½ in)

The Victor Batte-Lay Trust,

Colchester (R.95.1)

Raphael’s Sistine Cartoons had

been purchased on behalf of

Charles I in 1623 and were

engraved in 1711–19 by

Nicholas Dorigny. This

drawing, signed and dated

(17)95, is one of Constable’s

three surviving copies of these

engravings after the Cartoons.

8

Nicholas Dorigny, after

Raphael, Christ’s Charge to

Peter, 1719

Etching and engraving,

53.4 × 75.2 cm (21 × 29½ in)


London (V&A: 20284)

This engraving is taken from

one of seven full size cartoons

designed by Raphael for

tapestries in the Sistine

Chapel. This print is in reverse

of the cartoon from which it is

derived but is faithful in

its compositional detail.

Constable’s copies of the

engraving unknowingly

mimic this reversal of the

original design.

105

52

Canaletto, Waterloo Bridge from

above Whitehall Stairs, c.1819


(42½ × 74½ in)

Royal Collection Trust

(RCIN 400504)

Canaletto’s dynamic view of

London grouped around a bend

in the river Thames is one of a

pair with a view of Westminster.

This popular composition

established an enduring model

for views of the City of London.

53 (opposite)

John Constable, Waterloo

Bridge from above Whitehall

Stairs, c.1819


30.6 × 41 cm (12 × 16½ in)


London (V&A: 290–1888)

The viewpoint for this exact

topographical panorama was

probably No. 5 Whitehall Yard,

itself represented as a house

with crowded balconies on the

left foreground of the final

version of this composition

(Cat.6.5).

104

105

52

Canaletto, Waterloo Bridge from

above Whitehall Stairs, c.1819


(42½ × 74½ in)

Royal Collection Trust

(RCIN 400504)

Canaletto’s dynamic view of

London grouped around a bend

in the river Thames is one of a

pair with a view of Westminster.

This popular composition

established an enduring model

for views of the City of London.

53 (opposite)

John Constable, Waterloo

Bridge from above Whitehall

Stairs, c.1819


30.6 × 41 cm (12 × 16½ in)


London (V&A: 290–1888)

The viewpoint for this exact

topographical panorama was

probably No. 5 Whitehall Yard,

itself represented as a house

with crowded balconies on the

left foreground of the final

version of this composition

(Cat.6.5).

104

121120

58

John Constable, Spring: East

Bergholt Common, c.1821 or 1829

Oil on oak panel,

19 × 6. cm (7½ × 14½ in)


London (V&A: 144–1888)

The oil sketch repeats a drawing

dated 19 April 1821 (R.21.11), and

was probably painted in the

studio. Pitt’s Mill, in which

Constable worked as an

apprentice miller, is to the

right of the image.

59

John Constable, Study of cirrus

clouds, c.1821/2

Oil on paper,

11.4 × 17.8 cm (4½ × 7 in)


London (V&A: 784–1888)

This is one of Constable’s best

known cloud studies, which he

generally made in Hampstead.

The term ‘Cirrus’ inscribed

on the back establishes

Constable’s familiarity

with cloud classification.

121120

58

John Constable, Spring: East

Bergholt Common, c.1821 or 1829

Oil on oak panel,

19 × 6. cm (7½ × 14½ in)


London (V&A: 144–1888)

The oil sketch repeats a drawing

dated 19 April 1821 (R.21.11), and

was probably painted in the

studio. Pitt’s Mill, in which

Constable worked as an

apprentice miller, is to the

right of the image.

59

John Constable, Study of cirrus

clouds, c.1821/2

Oil on paper,

11.4 × 17.8 cm (4½ × 7 in)


London (V&A: 784–1888)

This is one of Constable’s best

known cloud studies, which he

generally made in Hampstead.

The term ‘Cirrus’ inscribed

on the back establishes

Constable’s familiarity

with cloud classification.

173172

65 (opposite)

John Constable, Willy Lott’s

House, c.1811

Oil on paper,

24.1 × 18.1 cm (9½ × 7½ in)


London (V&A: 166–1888

This sketch is painted on the

unprimed reverse of another

representing the same view.

With few alterations, this sketch

was utilized as the left half of

the composition of The Hay

Wain, almost ten years later.

66


House, c.1810

Oil on canvas,

27.3 × 24.2 cm (10½ × 9½ in)


London (V&A: 787–1888)

This work is on the reverse of a

sketch called The Lane from East

Bergholt to Flatford. Constable

had already painted this subject

as early as 1802, and this and

cat. no. 65 are embedded within

the final full-scale sketch of The

Hay Wain. There is a high level of

flood water within this scene.

173172

65 (opposite)


House, c.1811

Oil on paper,

24.1 × 18.1 cm (9½ × 7½ in)


London (V&A: 166–1888

This sketch is painted on the

unprimed reverse of another

representing the same view.

With few alterations, this sketch

was utilized as the left half of

the composition of The Hay

Wain, almost ten years later.

66


House, c.1810

Oil on canvas,

27.3 × 24.2 cm (10½ × 9½ in)


London (V&A: 787–1888)

This work is on the reverse of a

sketch called The Lane from East

Bergholt to Flatford. Constable

had already painted this subject

as early as 1802, and this and

cat. no. 65 are embedded within

the final full-scale sketch of The

Hay Wain. There is a high level of

flood water within this scene.

175174

67

John Constable,

The Hay Wain, 1821


(51½ × 73½ in)


(NG 1207)

This painting was of central

significance in Constable’s

professional career, marking

the point at which he achieved

critical success, and was

routinely compared with

Ruisdael and the Dutch

painter Hobbema. It was

inspired by Rubens’ A View of

Het Steen in the Early Morning

(probably 1636), now in the

National Gallery (fig.4.).

67

John Constable,

The Hay Wain

(full-scale sketch), 1821

Oil on canvas,

137 × 188 cm (54 × 74 in)


(V&A: 987–1900)

This study is slightly larger

than the finished version of

the composition, first

exhibited in 1821. This is

highly unusual as most artists

would make a smaller

‘modello’ unless producing a

cartoon. The artist made full-

scale preparatory sketches

for his six-foot exhibition

paintings as a means

of coordinating motifs

assembled from smaller

studies and establishing

the overall balance of light

and shade.

175174

67

John Constable,

The Hay Wain, 1821


(51½ × 73½ in)


(NG 1207)

This painting was of central

significance in Constable’s

professional career, marking

the point at which he achieved

critical success, and was

routinely compared with

Ruisdael and the Dutch

painter Hobbema. It was

inspired by Rubens’ A View of

Het Steen in the Early Morning

(probably 1636), now in the

National Gallery (fig.4.).

67

John Constable,

The Hay Wain

(full-scale sketch), 1821

Oil on canvas,

137 × 188 cm (54 × 74 in)


(V&A: 987–1900)

This study is slightly larger

than the finished version of

the composition, first

exhibited in 1821. This is

highly unusual as most artists

would make a smaller

‘modello’ unless producing a

cartoon. The artist made full-

scale preparatory sketches

for his six-foot exhibition

paintings as a means

of coordinating motifs

assembled from smaller

studies and establishing

the overall balance of light

and shade.

Documents

JOHN CONSTABLE The Making of a Master