Open IIIF manifest What is IIIF IIIF viewers

Landscape with pollard willow

Maker

(artist)
1776-1837

Title

Date of Production

(April) 1821

Medium

graphite on grey wove paper

Dimensions

Height: 9.4 cm
Width: 12 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.4011

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Notes

This sketch, likely drawn from life, depicts a willow on the bank of the River Stour in Essex with the gothic tower of Dedham church visible in the far-right background. The scene is related to Constable’s 1825 painting The Leaping Horse, now in the Royal Academy, London. The willow originally appeared to the right of the prancing horse in the composition, but Constable painted it out after the work initially failed to sell. The measurements of the sheet suggest that this is a trimmed page from a sketchbook used by Constable when he visited East Bergholt, the town of his birth, in April 1821.

Provenance

Hon. Ralph Bathurst (1904-1965); his sale at Sotheby's (London), 24 November 1948, lot 86; purchased there by Colnaghi (London) on behalf of Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), for £40; Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

John Constable: The Late Work, Royal Academy of Art, 30/10/2021-13/02/2022

John Constable - The Great Landscapes, San Marino & California & USA, 03/02/2007-29/04/2007

John Constable - The Great Landscapes, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 01/10/2006-31/12/2006 ...More

John Constable - The Great Landscapes, Tate Britain, London, 01/06/2006-28/08/2006

Exhibition of Drawings and Watercolours from the Spooner and Witt Collections, Australia, New Zealand, 1976-78

Constable: the art of nature, Tate Gallery, London, 04/06/1971-19/07/1971

English Landscape Drawings [catalogue not found], Rye Art Gallery, England, 1971

Victoria & Albert Museum, London, 1971 (October-November) ...Less

Literature

Constable: the great landscapes, Tate Britain; National Gallery of Art, Washington; Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino: 2006-07, 2006
no. 44
ill.

St. John, Ian, Dedham: Constable country, East Bergholt: Suffolk Walker, 2005
ill. on p. 10

Reynolds, Graham, The later paintings and drawings of John Constable, New Haven: Yale University Press 1984
no. 21.14 on p. 74
pl. 223 ...More

Exhibition of Drawings and Watercolours from the Spooner and Witt Collections, Australia, New Zealand, 1976 - 1978
cat. no. 41

Fleming-Williams, Ian, Constable: landscape watercolours & drawings, London: Tate Gallery Publications, 1976
p. 86
fig. 61

Constable: the art of nature, Tate Gallery, London, 1971
cat. no. 100

Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 13 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: left centre edge, cut off: "J WH / 18" [as in "J WHATMAN / 18[...]".

Inscription: none.

Collector's mark: none.

Information on this object may be incomplete and will be updated as research progresses. We are particularly committed to addressing any discriminatory or offensive language and ideas that might be present in our records. To help improve this record, and to enquire about images of The Courtauld Gallery Collection, please email gallery.collectionsonline@courtauld.ac.uk. Find out more about using and licensing our images.

____________________________

Buy a print from our collection