ENGLISH LANDSCAPE SCENERY: A SERIES OF FORTY MEZZOTINTO ENGRAVINGS ON STEEL, BY DAVID LUCAS. FROM PICTURES PAINTED BY JOHN CONSTABLE, R.A. LONDON: HENRY G. BOHN, YORK STREET, COVENT GARDEN. 1855. CONSTABLE’S ENGLISH LANDSCAPE. Tue Art of John Constable, like that of Hogarth, of Wilson, and of Stothard, was scarcely noticed by those among the titled and the wealthy of his countrymen who put themselves forward as the patrons of Painting; and had he not been independent of his profession for support, he could not have lived by it. But whatever may have been the loss to the artist, the world has been in some degree the gainer; for the apathy of patronage left Constable, as Hogarth had been left, to the free and unrestrained bent of his own genius, and the scenes he most loved became the subjects of his pictures. Of the Engravings forming the present collection, twenty-two were published by himself, and have long been scarce; five more were engraved while he lived, but withheld from publication; and the remaining thirty-three have been engraved since his death, and are now for the first time offered to the lovers of Art. The quotations made use of in explaining some of these plates are from Leslie’s “Life of Constable ;” of which the second edition is now sold by the publisher of the present volume for fifteen shillings. York Street, Jan, 1855. DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. “s" The paginal References are to Leslie’s “ Life of Constable.” 1° GARDEN VIEW OF THE HOUSE IN WHICH CONSTABLE WAS BORN Page 2 2/ “The Windmill in an Engraving from one of his sketches, entitled ‘ SPRING,’ is one of those in which he worked ; and its outline with the name of ‘John Constable, 1792, very accurately and neatly carved by him with a penknife, still remains on one of its timbers” - = & : = e = > iS d Pata! 31 From a picture exhibited at the Academy, 1830. “While finishing the picture of the Dell, he was one day beset with a great many suggestions from a very shallow source, and after adopting some of them he felt inclined to make a stand, which he did by saying to his adviser, ‘Very true ; but don’t you see that I might go on, and make this picture so good that it would be good for nothing ”” 202 a/ FLATFORD MILL. From a picture in the possession of Constable's family - - - - 2 2 or = “The ‘Porch’ is that of BERGHOLT CHURCH, and the stillness of a summer afternoon is broken only by the voice of an old man, to whom a woman and _ girl, sitting on one of the tombs, are listening. As in many of the finest Dutch pictures, the fewness of the parts constitutes a charm in this little work ; such is its extreme simplicity that it has nothing to arrest attention, but when once noticed, few pictures would longer detain a mind of any sensibility ” - = - = 8 - - 23 6/ “WILLY LOTT’S HOUSE is situated on the edge of the river Stour, close to Flatford Mill; it is a principal object in many of Constable’s pictures. Willy Lott, a farmer, was born and died in it, having passed a life of more than eighty years without having spent four whole days away from it.” The figure on horseback was sketched from, Constable’s father - - - - - - = - - - 49 wv Another view of WILLY LOTT’S HOUSE, taken from Flatford Mill; the ripple on the water being occasioned by the mill-wheel - - - = te a Hit) s./ HADLEIGH CASTLE. From a Picture exhibited at the Academy, 1829, now in the possession of Mr. Hogarth. “While Constable was retouching this picture (in the Academy), Chantrey told him its foreground was too cold, and taking his palette from him, he passed a strong glazi of asphaltum all over that part of the picture; and while this was going on, Constable, who stood behind him in some degree of alarm, said, ‘There goes all my dew!’” - 192 DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. f 9v A WHEAT-FIELD NEAR BRIGHTON. From a Picture in the possession of Constable’s family - - - 2 Page 160 10./ A VIEW FROM HAMPSTEAD HEATH. From a Picture in the possession of Edwin Bullock, Esq. ud A MILL NEAR BRIGHTON. From a small Sketch. 12,/ “THE WHITE HORSE.” From a Picture on many accounts the most important that Constable ever painted, and certainly one of the finest. In a letter written to Miss Gubbins (a lady related to Constable), he calls it “one of my happiest efforts on a large scale, being a placid representation of a serene grey morning, summer” - - - - - 82 13N HAMPSTEAD HEATH. From a Picture in the possession of Mrs. Gibbons. uN RIVER STOUR, SUFFOLK. From a Sketch for the large Picture engraved in “ Finden’s Gallery of British Art.” The picture is in the possession of William Carpenter, Esq., of the British Museum - 98 15 SALISBURY CATHEDRAL FROM THE MEADOWS. From a Sketch for the large Picture exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1831 - - 208 16.4 YARMOUTH JETTY. From a Sketch. 17 OPENING OF WATERLOO BRIDGE. From a large Picture exhibited at the Royal Academy, 1832, now in the possession of Charles Birch, Esq. - - - - - = = = 2226 18/ LOCK ON THE STOUR, NEAR FLATFORD MILL - - - - 131 19.1 SUMMER AFTERNOON AFTER A SHOWER. “TJmmediately on alighting from the coach, after one of his journeys either to or from Brighton, Constable made the beautiful sketch from which the engraving called ‘Summer Afternoon after a Shower’ was taken; it was the recollection of an effect he had noticed near Red Hill” - - - - - = - - - - 140 20! THE GLEBE FARM, WITH LANGHAM CHURCH. From a Picture in the possession of Constable’s family - - - - 173 aiN GILLINGHAM MILL, DORSETSHIRE. From a Picture in the possession of Constable’s family. In September, 1825, Archdeacon Fisher wrote to tell Constable that the mill was burnt to the ground. “The news is, that Mat. Parham’s (alias Perne’s) mill is burnt to the ground, and exists only on your canvass. A huge, misshapen, new, bright-brick, modern-improved patent monster, is starting up in its stead” - = = os iGI | 22. HAMPSTEAD HEATH. From a Picture in the possession of John Sheepshanks, Esq. 93.4 DEDHAM MILL AND CHURCH. From a slight Sketch - ' 5 2 : . : = 168 DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. / | oa! AUTUMNAL SUNSET: A VIEW NEAR EAST BERGHOLT. From a Sketch - - - - - - - - - Page 197 25./ SUMMER EVENING : FIELDS NEAR EAST BERGHOLT. From a Picture in the possession of Constable’s family - - - - 201 26. A SUMMER LAND: VIEW NEAR EAST BERGHOLT : - - - 201 / a7./ JAQUES AND THE WOUNDED STAG. From a Drawing in Water-colours in the possession of C. R. Leslie, Esq. - - 227 9,/ VIEW ON THE ORWELL, NEAR IPSWICH. From a Sketch - - = ~ e : = é e = Ie; 29./ OLD SARUM. From a Drawing in Water-colours in the possession of Constable’s family. “The present appearance,” says Constable, “of Old Sarum,—wild, desolate, and dreary,—contrasts strongly with its former splendour. This celebrated city, which once gave laws to the whole kingdom, and where the earliest parliaments on record were convened, can only now be traced by vast embankments and ditches, tracked only by sheep-walks.” “Sir Thomas Lawrence greatly admired Constable’s treatment of this subject, and told him he should dedicate the engraving to the House of Commons” - - - 214 30.1 SIR RICHARD STEEL’S COTTAGE, HAMPSTEAD ROAD. From a Picture in the possession of Constable’s family - : - - - 227 31V CASTLE ACRE PRIORY. No picture or drawing exists of this subject. The engraving was begun from “The Glebe Farm,” and Constable, not being satisfied with it, changed it to its present state - 231 39! SUMMER MORNING—DEDHAM VALE. From a small Sketch. “In the coach yesterday,” wrote Constable to a friend, “were two gentlemen and myself, all strangers to each other. In passing the vale of Dedham, one of them remarked on my saying it was beautiful, ‘Yes, sir, this is Constable’s country!’ I then told him who I was, lest he should spoil it” - - - - - - - 232 33. COTTAGE IN A CORN-FIELD. From a Picture in the possession of Constable’s family. “The cottage in this little picture is closely surrounded by the corn, which on the side most shaded from the sun remains green, while oyer the rest of the field it has ripened ; one of many circumstances that may be discovered in Constable’s landscapes, which mark them as the productions of an incessant observer of nature” - - - ce 34 A WINDMILL NEAR COLCHESTER—SQUALLY DAY. From a Drawing in Water-colours in the possession of Constable’s family - = ALI) 35./ WEYMOUTH BAY, DORSETSHIRE. From a Picture in the possession of Edwin Bullock, Esq. Constable, in writing of this subject, qnoted a line from Wordsworth,— “This sea in anger, and that dismal shore ;” and added, “I think of Wordsworth, for on that spot perished his brother in the wreck of the Abergavenny ” - - - - - 243, DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES. 36.) NOON—WEST-END FIELDS, NEAR HAMPSTEAD. From a Picture in the possession of Constable’s family 2 - = Page 265 37./ STONEHENGE. From a Sketch in the possession of C, R. Leslie, Esq. 33/ A SEA BEACH, NEAR BRIGHTON. 39.1 ARUNDEL MILL AND CASTLE. Constable was engaged in finishing this picture on the last day of his life. “The scene was one entirely after his own heart, and he had taken great pains to render it complete in all its details; and in that silvery brightness of effect, which was a chief aim with him in the latter years of his life, it is not surpassed by any production of his pencil” - 292 It remains in the possession of his children. 40. STOKE BY NAYLAND. Thus described by Constable,—* The impressive solemnity of a summer’s noon when attended, as it often is during the heats of the season, by thunder-clonds, is attempted to he expressed in this picture; at the same time, the appearance of a noon-day rainbow is hinted at when the are it describes is at its lowest. Suffolk, and many of the other eastern counties, abound in venerable Gothic churches, many of them of a size which cannot fail to strike the stranger with admiration and surprise; and a melancholy but striking characteristic of these churches is their being found in situations now comparatively lonely, some of them standing in obscure villages containing a few scattered houses only, and those but ill-according with such large and beautiful structures. But it is thus accounted for: these spots were the seats of those flourishing manufactories once so numerous in these counties, where they had from a remote period been established, and were during the reigns of Henry VII. and VIII. greatly increased by the continual arrival of the Flemings, who found here a refuge from the persecutions of the Low Countries; as well as after- wards in the reign of Elizabeth, whom the course of events had raised to be the glory and the support of Protestant Europe. The yast size of these noble structures, with the charm that the mellowing hand of time has ca: over them, gives them an aspect of extreme solemnity and grandeur, and they stand lasting monuments of the power and splendour of our ecclesiastical government, as well as of the piety and skill of our ancestors. Stoke, though by no means one of the largest, certainly ranks with the churches alluded to. It was probably erected about the end of the thirteenth century. The parapet, and its finely-proportioned chancel, may challenge the admiration of the architect ; as well as its majestic tower, which, from its commanding height, may be said to impart a portion of its own dignity to the surrounding many interesting monuments; and here, as well as at Nayland, are many of the tombstones of the clothiers: being mostly laid in the pavement, they are much defaced, but are known to belong to them by the small brasses still remaining” - - - - 274 country. In the church are Y | | a lean we 5a lian PSSM, ‘NOON wii vee W uy SOAs E ; A Wie IC Gay ; AA GES AWWW wos WO NAY x Wve KU, ey SNe o vance WW se VS, M Wee Meow eee Mee wey oes SMU | "\ Vey ay