Sketch for "The Hay Wain" - YCBA Collections Search

John Constable, 1776–1837, British, Sketch for "The Hay Wain", ca. 1820

Creator:: John Constable, 1776–1837
Title:: Sketch for "The Hay Wain" [2023, YCBA]
Former Title(s):: Landscape: Noon [1821, Royal Academy of Arts, London, exhibition catalogue]
Date:: ca. 1820
Materials & Techniques:: Oil on canvas laid to paper
Dimensions:: 4 7/8 × 7 inches (12.4 × 17.8 cm), Frame: 9 1/16 × 11 15/16 × 1 3/8 inches (23 × 30.3 × 3.5 cm)
Credit Line:: Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:: Public Domain
Accession Number:: B1981.25.137
Classification:: Paintings
Collection:: Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:: B1981.25.137FR
Subject Terms:: barges (flat-bottomed watercraft) | building | chimneys (architectural elements) | figures | house | impasto | men | path | tree
Associated Places:: England | Europe | Stour | United Kingdom
Access:: Not on view
Link:: https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:648
Export:: XML
IIIF Manifest:: JSON

Created by John Constable (1776-1837), the artist; by descent to his son, Captain Charles Golding Constable (1821-1878); purchased at auction by Joseph Hogarth (1801-1879), 96 Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, at Christie, Manson & Woods, London, England, April 15, 1869 (lot 107, 'The Hay Wain. A sketch for the large picture, exhibited in 1821 and at the Louvre in 1824'), in "Pictures, Drawings, and Sketches, chiefly by J.M.W. Turner, R.A." [1] [a]; … ; acquired by Paul-Arthur Chéramy (1840-1912), Rue Pelouze, Paris, France, by 1908 [b]; purchased at auction by “Sorel” at Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, France, May 5-7, 1908 (lot 30, 'Esquisse pour "Hay Wain"'), in "Tableaux anciens et modernes” [c]; purchased at auction by "Schnell" at Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, France, April 14-16, 1913 (lot 367, 'Esquisse pour "Hay Wain"'), in "Tableaux anciens et modernes" [2] [d]; acquired by Otto Gerstenberg (1848-1935) [3]; possibly purchased by Lovell William Vicars (1868-1943) of Vicars Brothers Ltd., Old Bond Street, London, England [4]; acquired by his wife, Clara Gertrude Vicars (1883-1961), by 1937 [5] [e]; by descent to her son, Alfred H. Vicars (1907-1997), by 1952 [6]; purchased by Leggatt Brothers, London, England; purchased by Paul Mellon (1907-1999), 1963 [f]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, 1981.

Notes:
[1] Graham Reynolds gives the purchaser as "Hogarth" in John Constable (Tokyo: Yomiuri Shimbun, 1986), https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/orbis:583226. Joseph Hogarth was a prominent London printmaker, printseller, framemaker, and art restorer. Hogarth is said to have mounted, framed, cleaned, and restored several Constable paintings owned by Captain Constable in 1865, per Ian Fleming-Williams and Leslie Parris, The Discovery of Constable (London: H. Hamilton, 1984), 71, https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/orbis:582206.

[2] A Joseph Schnell worked for the Austrian and French art dealer Charles Sedelmeyer, and appeared alongside Sedelmeyer at Austria's fine arts pavilion during the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition in Chicago. Schnell sold 130 Constable "dessins" in 1922 at Hotel Drouot as a single lot. See https://archive.org/details/tableauxancienst00htel/page/n11/mode/2up.

[3] According to 2011 correspondence with researchers at the Scharf-Gerstenberg Collection in Berlin.

[4] Lovell William Vicars was an art dealer; he may have been involved in his wife’s acquisition of the painting.

[5] When she loaned the artwork. See The catalog of a centenary memorial exhibition of John Constable, R.A.: 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, held at Messrs. Wildenstein's Galleries, 21st April to 29th May, 1937 (London: Wildenstein's Galleries, 1937), 29, https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/orbis:583247

[6] When he also loaned the artwork. See Exhibition of paintings by John Constable, 1776-1837, 8th July to 30th August, 1952 at the Guildhall Art Gallery (London: The Guildhall Art Gallery, 1952), 6, https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/orbis:3370825

Citations:
[a] Christie, Manson & Woods. April 15, 1869. Pictures, Drawings and Sketches, chiefly by J.M.W. Turner, R.A., The Property of John Ruskin, Esq. https://doi.org/10.1163/2210-7886_ASC-31183

[b] Julius Meier-Graefe and Erich Klossowski, La collection Chéramy: catalogue raisonné, précédé d'études sur les maîtres principaux de la collection (Munich: R. Piper & Co, 1908), 58, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k62325352/f74.

[c] Galerie Georges Petit. May 5-7, 1908. Catalogue des tableaux anciens et modernes, aquarelles, pastels, dessins... Très importante collection d'oeuvres de Constable et d'Eugène Delacroix, primitifs italiens composant la collection P.-A. Cheramy https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b52508125j/f45.

[d] Galerie Georges Petit. April 14-16, 1913. Catalogue des tableaux anciens et modernes, aquarelles, pastels, dessins… Dependant de la succession de M. P.A. Cheramy. https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1253177v/f118.

[e] Graham Reynolds, The later paintings and drawings of John Constable, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1984, p. 70 (v.1), no. 21.3

[f] Ibid

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Thomas Cole's Journey - Atlantic Crossings (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018-01-29 - 2018-05-13) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Constable - The Great Landscapes (The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, 2007-02-03 - 2007-04-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Constable - The Great Landscapes (National Gallery of Art, 2006-10-01 - 2007-01-02) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Constable - The Great Landscapes (Tate Britain, 2006-06-01 - 2006-08-28) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

John Constable (The Yomiuri Shimbun, 1986-01-30 - 1986-06-17) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

John Constable - A Selection of Paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (National Gallery of Art, 1969-04-30 - 1969-11-01) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Painting in England 1700-1850 - From The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon (Yale University Art Gallery, 1965-04-15 - 1965-06-20) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Paul Arthur Cheramy, La collection Cheramy : catalogue raisonné précédé d'études sur les maitres principaux de la collection, , R. Piper et Cie, Munich, 1908, p. 58, no. 46, NJ18 C42328 A12 M45+ (LSF) [ORBIS]

Christie's sale catalogue : Pictures, drawings and sketches, chiefly by J.M.W. Turner, R.A, the property of John Ruskin, Esq. : 15 April 1869, Christie's, April 15, 1869, p. 14, lot 107, Art Sales Catalogues Online [ORBIS]

Kenneth Clark, John Constable : The hay wain, in the National gallery, London, , , P. Lund, Humphries & company ltd, London, 1944, p. 5, ND497.C7 [ORBIS]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 58-59, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, Constable, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK & New York, NY, 1986, pp. 128-9, pl. 126, NJ18 C74 C75 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Exhibition of paintings by John Constable, 1776-1837 : 8th July to 30th August, 1952 at the Guildhall Art Gallery, , The Guildhall Art Gallery, London, 1952, p.6, no. 25, NJ18 C74 E95 1952 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Galerie Georges Petit sale catalogue : Catalogue des tableaux anciens et modernes, aquarelles, pastels, dessins. . . dépendant de la succession de M. P. -A. Cheramy, Galerie Georges Petit, Accessed March 14, 2023, p. 71, lot 367, https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k1253177v [Website]

Galerie Georges Petit sale catalogue : Catalogue des tableaux anciens et modernes, aquarelles, pastels, dessins. . . trés importante collection d'œuvres de Constable et d'Eugène Delacroix, primitifs italiens composant la collection P.-A. Cheramy : 5-7 May 1908, Galerie Georges Petit, May 5-7, 1908, p. 23, lot 30, http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b52508125j [Website]

Robert Hoozee, L'opera completa di Constable, 98, Rizzoli, Milano, Italy, 1979, pp. 115-16, no. 291, NJ18 C74 A12 +H66 (YCBA) [YCBA]

John Constable : a selection of paintings from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, , National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 1969, pp. 36-37, no. 32, NJ18 C74 U5 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Charles Robert Leslie, Memoirs of the life of John Constable, R.A., The Medici Society, Ltd., London, UK, 1937, opp. p. 109, pl. 66, NJ18 C74 L47 1937 (YCBA) [YCBA]

The National Gallery, London, The British school, Publications Dept., National Gallery, London, 1959, p. 13, ND461 L6 1959 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Painting in England 1700-1850 : collection of Mr. & Mrs. Paul Mellon : Exhibition at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, , , Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, 1963, p. 78 (v.1), no. 102, pl. 42 (v.2), ND466 V57 v.1-2 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Painting in England 1700-1850 from the Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, The Royal Academy of Arts Winter Exhibition 1964-65., , Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK, 1964, pp. 27 (v.1), 13 (v. 2), no. 86, N5220.M45 R69 1964 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Leslie Parris, Constable, Tate Publishing, London, UK, 1991, p. 203, fig. 67, NJ18 C74 P372 1991 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Leslie Parris, The Later Paintings and Drawings of John Constable, Book Review , Burlington Magazine, vol. 127, March 1985, pp. 165, 168, N1 B87 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Graham Reynolds, Constable, the natural painter, Panther, St. Albans, UK, 1976, pp. 66-67, NJ18 C74 R48 1976 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Graham Reynolds, The later paintings and drawings of John Constable, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1984, p. 70 (v.1), no. 21.3, pl. 215 (v. 2), NJ18 C74 R485 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Andrew Shirley, John Constable, R. A., Medical Society, London, 1944, p. 22, no. 66, pl. 66, NJ18 C74 S55 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Alastair Smart, Constable and his country, Elek, London, 1976, pp. 84, 135-7, NJ18 C74 S62 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Basil Taylor, Constable : paintings, drawings and watercolours, , Phaidon, London, UK, 1973, pp. 199-200..., no. 70, NJ18 C74 T39 + (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, p. 29, no. 46, NJ18 C74 T87 (YCBA) [YCBA]

The Yomiuri Shimbun, John Constable, The Yomiuri Shimbun, Tokyo, 1986, p. 77, 155, no. 31, NJ18 .C74 R47 +Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Yale University Art Gallery, Painting in England, 1700-1850, from the collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon : [exhibition at] Yale University Art Gallery, April 15-June 20, 1965, , vol. 1, W. Clowes and sons, New Haven, 1965, pp. 14 (v. 1), 13 (v. 2), no. 48, ND466 Y35 (YCBA) [YCBA]

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