- Artist
- John Constable 1776–1837
- Medium
- Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions
- Support: 490 × 620 mm
frame: 675 × 830 × 75 mm - Collection
- Tate
- Acquisition
- Presented by the American Fund for the Tate Gallery, purchase and partial bequest of Sir Edwin and Lady Manton in fulfilment of a pledge to celebrate the Tate Gallery Centenary, 2006
- Reference
- T12293
Summary
Running through the centre of The Glebe Farm is a shaded lane, flanked on one side by a large tree and on the other a house, beside which is a figure dressed in red. In the right-hand foreground there is a small pool and behind this a gleaming white church. Constable described this composition as ‘a cottage scene – with the Church of Langham’ (see R.B. Beckett (ed.), John Constable’s Correspondence VI, Patrons, Dealers and Fellow Artists, Ipswich 1968, pp.223–4). Situated five miles from Constable’s birthplace at East Bergholt, the village of Langham lay within his native landscape of Essex, a lifelong source of inspiration. Although it is based on a real place, The Glebe Farm is a composite scene that conflates different views of the location and juxtaposes elements both observed and imagined.
The painting’s genesis can be traced to an oil sketch of c.1810–15, A Cottage and Lane at Langham (Sketch for 'The Glebe Farm') (Victoria & Albert Museum, London). Constable’s decision to return to this sketch more than ten years later was inspired by memories of Langham’s association with Revd Dr John Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury, who had died in 1825. Fisher had once been rector of Langham Church and it was here, in 1798, that he and a twenty-two-year-old Constable first met, an encounter which ‘entirely influenced [Constable’s] future life’ (quoted in Parris and Fleming-Williams, p.307). As well as becoming Constable’s most loyal patron, Fisher brought the artist into contact with his nephew, Archdeacon John Fisher, who became the artist’s closest friend. Fisher’s connection with Langham Church likely drove Constable to include it behind the cottage and lane, even though the two buildings cannot be seen together from a single vantage point. Rearranging elements in the landscape to embellish meaning or enhance a composition was, by the late 1820s, an established aspect of Constable’s process; he similarly included a church for effect in The Cornfield (National Gallery, London).
Typically enthusiastic about his most recent work, Constable thought The Glebe Farm composition ‘one of my best’ (Beckett (ed.), John Constable’s Correspondence VI, pp.223–4). His satisfaction with it is evident in the four versions of it known to exist, all thought to have been painted between around 1827 and 1830; three of these are in Tate’s collection (see Tate N01274 and Tate N01823; another is housed at the Detroit Institute of Arts). The present work is the smallest of all the versions and represents the most dramatic re-imagining of Langham. The three main elements of the composition – tree, house, and church – occupy more pictorial space and appear closer together, perhaps embodying the interrelationship Constable perceived between man, nature and God. Furthermore, as well as altering the position of Langham Church, Constable modified its architecture by rendering it in gleaming white stone and adding a Gothic spire. This vertical addition may pay homage to the Bishop Fisher’s life as a conduit between man and God. The title’s reference to glebe land, which was cultivated to provide for ministers, also emphasises the presence of the church within this landscape, despite the fact that this particular farm was not in church ownership (Michael Rosenthal, Constable, London 1987, p.166).
The brooding sky, dramatic tonal contrasts and hastily applied dabs of paint make this version of The Glebe Farm the most expressive and painterly of them all. An increasing boldness in technique characterised Constable’s work of the late 1820s, coinciding with an upsurge in his reputation. His naturalistic landscapes caused a sensation in Paris, receiving far more attention from critics and artists than in his home country to date. Finally, after having been an associate for ten years, 1829 saw his long-awaited appointment as a member of London’s Royal Academy.
Although the Glebe Farm composition remained important enough to Constable for it to be included in English Landscape Scenery, a series of twenty-two prints produced between 1830 and 1832 that demonstrated his personal conception of landscape art, another version was engraved for this purpose (Tate N01274). The present work was to undergo further alterations for its translation into print. One impression (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge) shows the church transformed into a windmill, traces of which can still be seen in the painting. Constable evidently had a change of heart and painted the windmill vanes out before adding the spire. The print that ultimately emerged depicts a hybrid complex of cottage and Gothic ruins and was given the new title, ‘Castle Acre Priory’ (see Tate, T04094).
Further reading
Anne Lyles (ed.), Constable: The Great Landscapes, exhibition catalogue, Tate Britain, London 2006.
Leslie Parris and Ian Fleming-Williams, Constable, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1991, p.309.
Amy Concannon
October 2015
Revised 15 May 2023
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