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拍品专文
On 6 March 1821 Constable's great patron Archdeacon Fisher wrote to the artist inviting him to join him on his annual visitation of Berkshire, at his expense: 'The first week in June I go on my Visitation. Will you accompany me free of expence. I shall take in Oxford on my way' (R. Beckett, John Constable's Correspondence, Suffolk Records Office, 1962-8, VI, p. 64). In the event the journey took in three of Fisher's deaneries, Newbury, Reading and Abingdon; Wallingford was omitted. Constable brought a new sketchbook with him, rather larger than his usual ones and watermarked 'TURKEY MILLS J WHATMAN 1819'.
Constable met Fisher in London on 2 June (K. Cave, ed., The Diary of Joseph Farington, New Haven and London, 1978-84, XVI, p. 5673). Constable executed two drawings at Newbury on 4 June and four more on the 5th. Four drawings of Reading were dated 6 June, another four in or around Abingdon on the 7th (see fig. 1); there is an undated drawing of Blenheim and one at Oxford dated 9 June. In three letters to Fisher in 1825 and 1826 Constable asks him to return a sketchbook with a view of the bridge at Oxford that he had lent him, but he described the book as small, which seems to suggest that it is not the same one. Moreover, Constable went on to use the 'Visitation' sketchbook later in 1821 when he visited Fisher at Salisbury, and also in 1823 at Flatford, Fonthill and Colearton Hall. (For the 'Visitation' sketchbook see in particular Reynolds, op. cit., pp. 74-8, 86-7, 90, 120-2, 125, 131: in his list of sketchbooks on p. 301 Reynolds omits nos. 21.29-21.33 from the drawings in this sketchbook).
The 'Visitation' sketchbook has been dismembered and the largest share of the pages were given by the artist's daughter Isabel to the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum. Of the others, three that can be traced seem to have belonged to Constable's second son Charles Golding Constable. One of these, otherwise untraced, was in his sale as 'Reading from the River', but Reynolds suggests it could well be the present drawing, hence the provenance given above (G. Reynolds, op. cit., p. 76, no. 21.28).
In total contrast to J.M.W. Turner, Constable rarely went on sketching tours. It has been suggested by Ian Fleming-Williams that his choice of subjects on this journey, mainly river and canal scenes, barges, overhanging willows and a lock, reflected his interests in East Anglia (Fleming-Williams, op. cit., 1990, pp. 183-4). Fleming-Williams suggests that the barge in the present drawing is 'sunken' or at least 'with a perilous looking list to port' (Fleming-Williams, op. cit., 1976, p. 74, and 1990, p. 186), but for Reynolds 'the barge appears to be manned and afloat, engaged in shooting the bridge over the river' (loc. cit.).
The drawings from the 1821 tour with Archdeacon Fisher are particularly finished for Constable. All are heavily worked in pencil and some including the present drawing are finished in watercolour, with delicate washes enhancing the strong pencil work resulting in Constable's most successful drawings. None of this series of drawings appear to have been translated into finished oil paintings.
For this group of works in general see the books cited supra by Ian Fleming-Williams and Graham Reynolds, and also the exhibition catalogue by Leslie Parris and Ian Fleming-Williams, Constable, London, Tate Gallery, June-September 1991, pp. 453-4.
We are grateful to Martin Butlin for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.
Constable met Fisher in London on 2 June (K. Cave, ed., The Diary of Joseph Farington, New Haven and London, 1978-84, XVI, p. 5673). Constable executed two drawings at Newbury on 4 June and four more on the 5th. Four drawings of Reading were dated 6 June, another four in or around Abingdon on the 7th (see fig. 1); there is an undated drawing of Blenheim and one at Oxford dated 9 June. In three letters to Fisher in 1825 and 1826 Constable asks him to return a sketchbook with a view of the bridge at Oxford that he had lent him, but he described the book as small, which seems to suggest that it is not the same one. Moreover, Constable went on to use the 'Visitation' sketchbook later in 1821 when he visited Fisher at Salisbury, and also in 1823 at Flatford, Fonthill and Colearton Hall. (For the 'Visitation' sketchbook see in particular Reynolds, op. cit., pp. 74-8, 86-7, 90, 120-2, 125, 131: in his list of sketchbooks on p. 301 Reynolds omits nos. 21.29-21.33 from the drawings in this sketchbook).
The 'Visitation' sketchbook has been dismembered and the largest share of the pages were given by the artist's daughter Isabel to the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum. Of the others, three that can be traced seem to have belonged to Constable's second son Charles Golding Constable. One of these, otherwise untraced, was in his sale as 'Reading from the River', but Reynolds suggests it could well be the present drawing, hence the provenance given above (G. Reynolds, op. cit., p. 76, no. 21.28).
In total contrast to J.M.W. Turner, Constable rarely went on sketching tours. It has been suggested by Ian Fleming-Williams that his choice of subjects on this journey, mainly river and canal scenes, barges, overhanging willows and a lock, reflected his interests in East Anglia (Fleming-Williams, op. cit., 1990, pp. 183-4). Fleming-Williams suggests that the barge in the present drawing is 'sunken' or at least 'with a perilous looking list to port' (Fleming-Williams, op. cit., 1976, p. 74, and 1990, p. 186), but for Reynolds 'the barge appears to be manned and afloat, engaged in shooting the bridge over the river' (loc. cit.).
The drawings from the 1821 tour with Archdeacon Fisher are particularly finished for Constable. All are heavily worked in pencil and some including the present drawing are finished in watercolour, with delicate washes enhancing the strong pencil work resulting in Constable's most successful drawings. None of this series of drawings appear to have been translated into finished oil paintings.
For this group of works in general see the books cited supra by Ian Fleming-Williams and Graham Reynolds, and also the exhibition catalogue by Leslie Parris and Ian Fleming-Williams, Constable, London, Tate Gallery, June-September 1991, pp. 453-4.
We are grateful to Martin Butlin for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.