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Creator:
John Constable, 1776–1837
Title:
East Bergholt Church [2007, Paul Mellon's Legacy: a Passion for British Art: Masterpieces from the Yale Center for British Art, exhibition catalogue]
Former Title(s):
East Bergholt House from Church Street [1996, Reynolds, The early paintings and drawings of John Constable, catalogue raisonné]
Date:
1809
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on paper mounted to panel
Dimensions:
7 15/16 x 6 3/16 inches (20.2 x 15.7 cm), Frame: 10 1/4 × 8 3/4 inches (26 × 22.2 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2001.2.237
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B2001.2.237FR
Subject Terms:
buildings | church | clouds | clouds | houses | landscape | rain | road | study (visual work)
Associated Places:
East Bergholt | England | Europe | Suffolk | United Kingdom
Access:
Not on view
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:38536
Export:
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Contrary to the wording of the title, this exquisitely fresh oil study directs the eye of the viewer north along Church Street in Constable’s home village of East Bergholt. In the middle ground, a red-brick shop partially obscures the tower that in the sixteenth century was added to one side of the medieval church building. Constable’s maternal grandfather had been rector of East Bergholt church, and as a young boy the artist had worshiped there with his family.

Gallery label for An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29)
Contrary to the wording of the title by which it is now generally known, this exquisitely fresh oil study directs the eye of the viewer north along Church Street in the village of East Bergholt, from a position slightly adjacent to the village green, barely one hundred yards from Constable's birthplace, East Bergholt House. In the middle ground, a red-brick shop partially obscures the tower that in the sixteenth century was added to the side of the medieval church facing the street, but never completed. Stands of trees that surround the church and partially obscure the peculiarities of its hybrid form also prevented Constable from finding an unobstructed vantage point from which to record a view of the whole building. Constable's maternal grandfather had been rector of East Bergholt church. When Constable was growing up, he worshiped there with his family on Sundays and walked past the church on his way to and from Dedham Grammar School. At that time, the sundial on the porch carried the elementary Latin inscription "Ut umbra sic vita" (Life is like [a] shadow).

Angus Trumble

John Baskett, Paul Mellon's legacy: a passion for British art : masterpieces from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, p. 287, no. 96, N5220 M552 P38 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA)


Among the highlights of Paul Mellon's bequest is a group of early oil sketches by Constable, painted in and around the artist's home village of East Bergholt, Suffolk. The young Constable's favorite subjects were village landmarks such as the parish church and East Bergholt House - his family home and birthplace - and everyday sights in the valley of the river Stour, where his father Golding Constable owned watermills. Sketching in oils outdoors, in front of the motifs, he tried to see the world afresh and create a more natural form of landscape painting.

Malcolm Warner

Warner, Malcolm and John Baskett. The Paul Mellon Bequest : treasures of a lifetime. New Haven : Yale Center for British Art, 2001, p. 28
Created by John Constable (1776-1837), the artist; by descent to his son, Captain Charles Golding Constable (1821-1879); by descent to his son, Hugh Golding Constable (1868-1949), grandson of the artist [1]; purchased by Leggatt Brothers, London, 1899 as “A Shower, East Bergholt” [2]; acquired by Sir Michael Sadler (1861-1943) in 1913 [a], still in his possession by 1937 [3]; acquired by Norman Lashbroke Hamilton-Smith (1908-1980) of Windlesham, Surrey by 1950 [b]; purchased by John Baskett Ltd. from Alex Reid & Lefevre, (‘The Church at East Bergholt’), London, December 1979 [4] [c]; purchased by Paul Mellon (1907-1999), April 1980; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, September 1999.

Notes:
[1] See a label on the work’s reverse, indicating that the word was purchased by Leggatt [Brothers] from Hugh Constable in 1899.
[2] The painting was included in the Leeds Art Gallery 1913 exhibition catalog Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Works by and after John Constable, R.A. (1776-1837) that has an introduction by Edward Ernest Leggatt https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/orbis:4612424
[3] The painting was included in the 1937 exhibition catalog The catalogue of a Centenary Memorial Exhibition of John Constable (no.30) held at the Wildenstein's Galleries https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/orbis:583247
[4] Unclear if Alex Reid & Lefevre was acting on behalf of Norman Lashbroke Hamilton-Smith

Citations:
[a] Hoozee, Robert (1979). L’Opera completa di Constable. Rizzoli.
[b] Reynolds, Graham (1996). The early paintings and drawings of John Constable. The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, p. 135 (v. 1), no. 9.39 (v. 2), pl. 755 (v. 2), NJ18 C74 R484 1996 + (YCBA)
[c] John Baskett papers. Yale Center for British Art, Archives, John Baskett Ltd. stock book, 1967-1990, Box 1377, pp. 122-123 [https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3080199]

In a New Light: Paintings from the Yale Center for British Art (Yale University Art Gallery, 2023-03-24 - 2023-12-03) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Royal Academy of Arts, 2007-10-20 - 2008-01-27) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

The Paul Mellon Bequest : Treasures of a Lifetime (Yale Center for British Art, 2001-02-17 - 2001-04-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

John Constable (Tate) (Tate Britain, 1991-06-13 - 1991-09-15) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

John Baskett, Paul Mellon's Legacy: a Passion for British Art: Masterpieces from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, p. 287, no. 96, pl. 96, N5220 M552 P38 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Ian Fleming-Williams, The discovery of Constable, H. Hamilton, London, 1984, pp. 127-28, NJ18.C74 F55 (YCBA) [YCBA]

James Hamilton, Constable : a portrait, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London, after p. 138, , pl. 14, NJ18.C74 H36 2022 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Robert Hoozee, L'opera completa di Constable, 98, Rizzoli, Milano, Italy, 1979, p. 94, no. 69, NJ18 C74 A12 +H66 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Leeds Art Gallery, Catalogue of a Loan Exhibition of Works by and after John Constable, R.A. (1776-1837, Leeds, 1913, p. 57, no. 115, Fiche B46 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Mr Paul Mellon, Reflections in a silver spoon, a memoir , W. Morrow, New York, 1992, btwn pp.382-83, N5220 M552 1992 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Leslie Parris, Constable : paintings, watercolours & drawings, , Tate Publishing, London, UK, 1976, pp. 93-96, NJ18 C74 P37 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Leslie Parris, Constable, Tate Publishing, London, UK, 1991, p. 93, no. 27, pl. 27, NJ18 C74 P372 1991 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Graham Reynolds, The early paintings and drawings of John Constable, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 1996, p. 135 (v. 1), no. 9.39 (v. 2), pl. 755 (v. 2), NJ18 C74 R484 1996 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Charles Rhyne, A Slide Collection of Constable Paintings, Visual Resources, V. 4, 1987, p. 59, fig. 5, N4000 V57 (HAAS) [ORBIS]

Ian St. John, East Bergholt, Constable country , Suffolk Walker, Colchester [England], 2002, p. 16, no. 21, V 0955 (YCBA) [YCBA]

The catalogue of a centenary memorial exhibition of John Constable : his origins and influence : illustrating the various periods of his work, also the work of his predecessors, and his influence on the art of his successors : 21st April to 29th May, 1937, held at Messrs. Wildenstein's Galleries, , Wildenstein Galleries, London, 1937, pp. 22, 37, no. 30, NJ18 C74 T87 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Warner, The Paul Mellon Bequest : treasures of a lifetime, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2001, p. 28, N5247 M385 P28 2001 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Giles Waterfield, Mr. Mellon, RA : the magazine for the Friends of the Royal Academy, No. 96, Autumn 2007, pp. 71, 122, V 1905 (YCBA) [YCBA]


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