English Landscape Scenery: A Series Of Forty Mezzotinto Engravings On Steel, By David Lucas. From Pictures Painted By John Constable, R.A. -

John Constable RA

RA Collection: Book

Record number

07/3161

Author

Imprint

London: Henry G. Bohn, York Street, Covent Garden, 1855

Physical Description

8 p., 40 pl.; 430 mm.

Contents

[T.p.] - [Text] - Description Of The Plates. The Paginal References are to Leslie's "Life of Constable." - [Plates].

Responsibility Note

All plates are signed as painted by John Constable and engraved by David Lucas.

References

L. Parris, John Constable and David Lucas [exhibition catalogue] (1993); J. Constable, John Constable's correspondence, ed. R.B. Beckett, vol. IV (1966), p.314-463; A Shirley, The published mezzotints of David Lucas after John Constable, RA (1930); F. Wedmore, Constable: Lucas: with a descriptive catalogue of the prints they did between them (1904); British Museum, Constable's "English landscape scenery" (1979).

More general studies include J.C. Ivy, Constable and the critics 1802-1837 (1991); I. Fleming-Williams and I. Parris, The discovery of Constable (1984).

Summary Note

The introductory text states, 'Of the engravings forming the present collection, twenty-two were published by himself, and have long been scarce; five more were engraved while he lived, but withheld from publication; and the remaining thirty-three have been engraved since his death, and are now for the first time offered to the lovers of Art.' From about 1829 Constable had given close supervision to Lucas's mezzotints, which were engraved on steel plates, a medium first made available to engravers by T.G. Lupton ca. 1822. The cooperation of Constable and Lucas is recorded in detail in Constable's correspondence.

The plates are captioned, and show: 1. East Bergholt; 2. Spring; 3. A Dell, Helmingham Park, Suffolk; 4. Flatford Mill; 5. Porch of the Church at East Bergholt, Suffolk; 6. Willy Lott's House; 7. Mill Stream; 8. Hadleigh Castle, near the Nore; 9. Vornfield near Brighton; 12. View On The River Stour; 13. Hampstead Heath; 14. River Stour, Suffolk; 15. Salisbury Cathedral, From The Meadows; 16. Yarmouth, Norfolk; 17. Opening Of Waterloo Bridge; 18. A Lock On The Stour, Suffolk; 19. Summer Afternoon - After A Shower; 20. The Glebe Farm; 21. Gillingham Mill, Dorsetshire; 22. A Heath; 23. A Mill; 24. Autumnal Sun Set; 25. Summer Evening; 26. A Summerland; 27. Jaques and the Wounded Stag, Scene from 'As you like it'; 28. View On The Orwell, Near Ipswich; 29. Old Sarum. "Here We Have No Abiding City." St. Paul.; 30. Sir Richd. Steel's Cottage, Hampstead Road; 31. Castle Acre Priory; 32. Summer Morning; 33. A Cottage in a Cornfield; 34. Mill near Colchester; 35. Weymouth Bay, Dorsetshire; 36. Noon; 37. Stone Henge; 38. A Sea Beach; 39. Arundel Mill and Castle; 40. Stoke by Nayland, Suffolk.

Provenance

The verso of the front loose endpaper is inscribed in pencil, S:A:H', i.e. S.A. Hart, librarian of the Royal Academy 1864-81.

Binding Note

19th-century half brown morocco, brown cloth-covered boards; spine lettered 'Constable's Works'.

Name as Subject

Subject

Landscapes (environments) - Great Britain - History - 18th century - 19th century
Landscapes (representations) - Paintings - Great Britain - 18th century - 19th century
Pictorial works - Mezzotints - Steel engravings - Great Britain - 19th century

Contributors

John Constable RA, source artist
David Lucas, engraver
Henry George Bohn, publisher