Audio: John Constable's John Charles and Maria Lousia Constable fishing from a barge at Flatford Mill
John Constable, R.A. (East Bergholt 1776-1837 Hampstead)
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THE PROPERTY OF A LADY (LOTS 140, 142-145)
John Constable, R.A. (East Bergholt 1776-1837 Hampstead)

John Charles and Maria Louisa Constable fishing from a barge at Flatford Mill

Details
John Constable, R.A. (East Bergholt 1776-1837 Hampstead)
John Charles and Maria Louisa Constable fishing from a barge at Flatford Mill
inscribed and dated 'Flatford Octr 5 1827' (on the original mount, no longer with the drawing, according to the 1973 catalogue entry)
pen and grey ink, grey wash, watermark J WHATMAN/TURKEY MILL/1824
12¾ x 9 in. (32.5 x 22.5 cm.)
Provenance
C. Fairfax Murray, purchased from him in 1904 by
Edward Waldo Forbes; Christie's, London, 5 June 1973, lot 24 (7,000 gns to Agnew's from whom purchased for the present collection).
Literature
I. Fleming-Williams, Constable's Landscape Watercolours & Drawings, London, 1976, p. 94, fig. 66.
G. Reynolds, The Later Paintings and Drawings of John Constable, New Haven and London, 1984, p. 186, no. 27.34., pl. 662.

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Lot Essay

In October 1827 Constable, by now living in Hampstead, took his two eldest children John Charles and 'Minna' (Maria Louisa), for a fortnight's holiday staying with his brother and sister, Abraham and Mary, at Flatford. Probably to keep an eye on his children Constable drew many of his favourite local subjects. This view is taken from near the boat-building lock, looking downstream towards Flatford Lock.

Fleming-Williams compares it with a drawing (dated 'Octr 5 1827') of A Scene on the River Stour at Flatford (loc. cit., pl. 39); and Reynolds, op. cit., p. 183, no. 27.14, pl. 643) to demonstrate the difference between a drawing done on the spot such as the latter and one done from memory. Other drawings from this holiday done from memory are Reynolds, nos. 27.26 and, perhaps, 27.28, pls. 655 and 657.

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