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A Stand of Elm Trees (recto); A Study of East Bergholt with the Church (verso)

A work made of black chalk (recto) and graphite (verso) on pale gray laid paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of black chalk (recto) and graphite (verso) on pale gray laid paper.

Date:

c. 1802

Artist:

John Constable
English, 1776-1837

About this artwork

In a time when landscape painting enjoyed unprecedented popularity in England, John Constable secured a place as a leading artist in the genre. This exploratory sketch by Constable is one of his earliest and largest studies of trees and was probably drawn in Dedham Vale, the area of rolling hills and woods surrounding his home on the border of Essex and Suffolk. Hallmarks of Constable’s technique can be observed here, especially the indistinct description of foliage contrasted with sharply delineated trunks and branches. When viewing one of Constable’s studies of trees, William Blake stated, “Why, this is no drawing, but inspiration.”

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

John Constable

Title

A Stand of Elm Trees (recto); A Study of East Bergholt with the Church (verso)

Place

England (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1797–1807

Medium

Black chalk (recto) and graphite (verso) on pale gray laid paper

Dimensions

52 × 44.6 cm (20 1/2 × 17 9/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection

Reference Number

2013.914

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/207789/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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