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Stanway Mill, near Colchester

Maker

(artist)
1776-1837

Title

Date of Production

(circa) 1833 - 1835

Medium

graphite and watercolour, with scratching out, on wove paper

Dimensions

Height: 14.6 cm
Width: 19.7 cm

Accession Number

D.2007.DS.9

Mode of Acquisition

Dorothy Scharf, bequest, 2007 (March)

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

flour mills

Label Text

One of the greatest English landscape painters, John Constable is less known for his watercolours. This vibrant sheet is thought to be one of the few he exhibited at the Royal Academy. Close observation of nature and the effects of weather was at the heart of Constable’s art. His mastery at depicting skies is evident from this stormy scene. Dark streaks of rain lash across pale clouds; their diagonal lines, echoed in the mill sails, create a palpable sense of blustery wind.

Notes

Constable may have exhibited this at the Royal Academy (possibly in 1833 under the title 'Windmill - squally day'). The church in the middle distance is St Mary-ad-Murum, Colchester.

Provenance

the artist's sale, Foster and Sons (London), 15-16 May 1838 (catalogue untraced); Dr Barford sale, Christie's (London), 20 April 1894, lot 104; purchased there by Leggatt Bros (London) for 35 guineas; Thomas Agnew & Sons (London), 1976; purchased there by Miss Dorothy Scharf, London (1942-2004); Scharf Bequest 2007 See Long Description.

Exhibition History

Drawings Gallery Display - Pen to Brush: British Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 18/11/2021-28/02/2022

British Watercolours from the Scharf Bequest, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 15/10/2008-01/01/2009

Literature

Selborne, Joanna, 'British Watercolors at the Courtauld Gallery: The Dorothy Scharf Bequest' in 'Master Drawings', Winter 2008
p. 544
fig. 4

Reynolds, Graham, The later paintings and drawings of John Constable, New Haven: Yale University Press 1984
no. 33.35 on p. 253
pl. 891

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Collector's mark: none.

Inscription: Verso: upper left, graphite: "No 12"; lower left, graphite: "12".

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