George Constable

Catalogue entry

T03236 LANDSCAPE WITH COTTAGE AND FIGURES

Inscribed on the back in a later hand ‘Painted by Geo Constable Esq of Arundel/ and given by Geo Sefton Constable Eq/ to Geo Sparks./25^th Nov^r 1878.’ and, less clearly, ‘[? M^cL]’

Oil on board, 5 1/8 × 7 7/8 (13.4 × 20)

Purchased from Mr P.B. Sutton (Grant-in-Aid) 1981
Prov: Given by the artist's son, George Sefton Constable, to George Sparks 1878 (see inscription);...; purchased from Scott Antiques, Tadworth by Stephen Garratt c.1980 and sold by him to P.B. Sutton, from whom bought by the Tate Gallery 1981.

George Constable was a prosperous brewer and maltster of Arundel in Sussex. He was also an amateur painter and a collector. T03236 is a typical example of his oil sketching style, which is reminiscent of the work of his friend and namesake (but no relation) John Constable and, perhaps more so, of that of David Cox. George Constable's descendants possess similar examples, two of which are reproduced in Harold Day, East Anglian Painters, 1, n.d., p.101. It is not known when George made these sketches of imaginary rural scenes. The earliest reference in his correspondence with John Constable to his own work is in 1835 (R.B. Beckett, John Constable's Correspondence, V, 1967, p.21) but he may have continued painting for many years after this.

Published in:
The Tate Gallery 1980-82: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions, London 1984

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