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Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows: the Rainbow

A work made of mezzotint with etching, in black, on cream wove paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of mezzotint with etching, in black, on cream wove paper.

Date:

1834

Artist:

David Lucas (English, 1802-1881)
after John Constable (English, 1776-1837)

About this artwork

The landscape painter John Constable owned an edition of J. M. W. Turner’s Liber Studiorum, which he famously referred to as the “liber stupidorum,” a critical remark directed at the ambitious size of the undertaking (of which only 71 of the planned 100 plates were finally printed), rather than its artistry. Constable nonetheless employed David Lucas’s considerable printmaking talents to immortalize 22 of his own paintings in mezzotint for a similarly scaled portfolio, English Landscape Scenery. They also collaborated on this larger plate, revising it until Constable’s death, as the artist agonized over every detail, explaining in a letter to Lucas: “If [the rainbow] is not tender—and elegant—evanescent and lovely … we are both ruined.”

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

David Lucas

Title

Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows: the Rainbow

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.

Made 1834

Medium

Mezzotint with etching, in black, on cream wove paper

Dimensions

Image: 55.2 × 68.9 cm (21 3/4 × 27 3/16 in.); Sheet: 61.6 × 71.2 cm (24 5/16 × 28 1/16 in.)

Credit Line

John H. Wrenn Fund

Reference Number

1929.276

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/2171/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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