John Constable

A Cornfield

?1817

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Not on display

Artist: John Constable 1776–1837
Medium: Oil paint on canvas
Dimensions: Support: 613 × 510 mm
frame: 875 × 775 × 115 mm
Collection: Tate
Acquisition: Accepted by HMGovernment in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to Tate 2004
Reference: T11862

Display caption

Like Fen Lane, which hangs to the right, this study is thought to be one of the works Constable began outdoors in Suffolk in 1817, but did not finish. It too shows Fen Lane, but from further down.

When Constable was looking for a subject to work up for the 1826 Royal Academy exhibition, he turned to this canvas and from it painted the picture now known as The Cornfield (now in the National Gallery). It was probably while preparing the finished picture that he lowered the trees at the right of this earlier sketch by overpainting them with sky.

Gallery label, August 2004

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