JOHN CONSTABLE R.A.
(1776-1837)
Golding Constable’s House, East Bergholt, Suffolk
David Lucas
(after Constable)
House of the late Golding Constable, Esq and Birth Place of the Artist Mezzotint ·
91/8 x 91⁄2 inches 232 x 240 mm
Published in 1831 as the frontispiece to Constable’s English Landscape Scenery
Engraved: David Lucas, as plate I, the frontispiece, to English Landscape Scenery, published in 1831 as ‘House and Grounds of the late Golding Constable, Esq. East Bergholt’
Further images
Provenance
Private Collection, Suffolk
Private Collection, 2010
Literature
Andrew Wilton, Constable’s ‘English Landscape Scenery’, 1979, pp. 26-27, as untraced
Previously recorded as being untraced this important oil-sketch was rediscovered in 2010. It represents a poignantly felt recording of the artist's birthplace and his late father's home. It is a rare example of Constable's warmth and fondness to hearth and family. This painting was engraved by David Lucas in 1831, and chosen by Constable to be the frontispiece in what is now considered to be his most important series of engravings, English Landscape Scenery.
Sarah Cove, whilst undertaking scientific analysis of the painting, found an early Madonna and Child underneath the topmost layers of the painting. It was typical procedure for Constable to reuse worked on canvases. Anne Lyles and Sarah Cove have dated the painting to the early 1830s.
