John Constable R.A.

(East Bergholt 1776-1837 London)

A countryman resting on a bank, seen from behind

Footnotes

Provenance
The Constable family Collection, until at least 1954
The late Dr. and Mrs W. Katz, and thence by descent to the present owners

Exhibited
Ipswich, Christchurch Mansion - Wolsey Art Gallery, An Exhibition of the Works of the Constable Family - Five Generations: Lent by Lieut.-Colonel J. H. Constable and Members of his Family, 23 June-30 September 1954, cat. no. 53
London, South London Art Gallery, An Exhibition of the Works of the Constable Family - Five Generations: Lent by Lieut.-Colonel J. H. Constable and Members of his Family, 24 October-13 November 1954, cat. no. 53
New York, Salander-O'Reilly Galleries, John Constable, R.A. (1776-1837): an exhibition: paintings, drawings, watercolors, mezzotints, 9 May- 25 June 1988, cat. no. 70

Literature
G. Reynolds, John Constable, R.A. (1776-1837): an exhibition: paintings, drawings, watercolors, mezzotints exh. cat., New York, 1978, p. 131, cat. no. 70, ill.
G. Reynolds, The Later Paintings and Drawings of John Constable, New Haven and London, 1996, p. 161, cat. no. 25.18, ill., pl. 589

Many of Constable's figure studies are portraits or intimate drawings of family members, but a number of other studies of countryfolk do appear in the tiny, pocket-sized sketchbooks that he carried with him, examples of which are held in the collections of the Huntingdon Library, San Marino, California, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the British Museum, London. Another drawing of a countryman lying on a bank, of similar size and which comes from a recorded sketchbook, is illustrated by Graham Reynolds (op. cit, 1996, 25.27, plate 588). It is believed to have been drawn during the summer of 1824 or 1825 and Reynolds places the present drawing in the same period. The addition of coloured washes to this piece make it a particularly nice example.