The lane from East Bergholt to Flatford
The lane from East Bergholt to Flatford and one that Constable must have walked hundreds of times as a boy both on his way to Grammar School in Dedham and also to his father’s mill at Flatford.
- 35
- 1812
- 28cm x 16.6cm
- Museso Lazaro, Madrid
- Oil on Canvas
- 180
- Oil on Canvas, 1812, 28cm x 16.6cm, Museso Lazaro, Madrid
- Less Known
- 51.96373,1.01820
Details
Inscribed on the back 9 July 1812, and known as his work from the ‘Suffolk Years’ a time when human figures rarely appear.
Constable painted in and around Flatford Lane numerous times, from the Church and the back of West Lodge, in the grounds of Old Hall, past the top of Fen Lane and down towards Tunnel Lane and the Mill.
Earlier this year Constable had told Maria that he has very distinctly marked out a path for himself in painting and is ‘desirous of pursuing it uninterruptedly’. However, by the July he writes again that he is living a hermit like life, always with his ‘pencils’ (brushes) in his hands.
The previous year he had exhibited at the Royal Academy. The exhibition records that year were meagre and it wasn’t until 1814 when the sale of two landscapes encouraged him to continue in the profession that he loved. Practice in portraiture also gave him a fullness of technical ability which he had not previously possessed, so 1811 had seen the end of one phase of his work, and by 1815 when he went on the exhibit ‘Boat Building’ and ‘Dedham Vale’ would mark the beginning of another.
Provenance unknown
Located at the Museo Lazaro, Madrid
- 35
- 1812
- 28cm x 16.6cm
- Museso Lazaro, Madrid
- Oil on Canvas
- 180
- Oil on Canvas, 1812, 28cm x 16.6cm, Museso Lazaro, Madrid
- Less Known
- 51.96373,1.01820