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Creator:
John Constable, 1776–1837
Title:
An Autumnal Landscape at East Bergholt
Former Title(s):
An Autumnal Landscape
Date:
between 1805 and 1808
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
8 3/8 × 11 1/4 inches (21.3 × 28.6 cm), Frame: 11 1/4 × 14 inches (28.6 × 35.6 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1981.25.145
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B1981.25.145FR
Subject Terms:
autumn | fence | field | landscape | meadow | red | trees
Associated Places:
East Bergholt | England | Suffolk | United Kingdom
Access:
Not on view
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:656
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Created by John Constable (1776-1837), the artist; … ; purchased by Malcolm MacDonald (1901-1981) of 103 Frognal, Hampstead, London, from Leicester Galleries, London in 1946 [1] (‘Autumn Landscape (dated 25th December, 1813’) [a] [2]; stolen by Ian Roland Ritchie (1919-1982) between 1952-1953 [3] [b];...; recovered by Malcolm MacDonald (1901-1981) by 1954 [c];...; acquired by Gilbert Davis (1899-1983), 7 Orchard Court, London, England [4]; privately purchased by P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., London, England for Paul Mellon (1907-1999), 1965 [d]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut, December 1981.

Notes:
[1] This date of purchase reflects how Malcolm MacDonald recalls the artwork when Ian Roland Ritchie stole the painting. See citation [a]
[2] MacDonald gives the work this title and date as such, see citation [a]
[3] The theft of the paintings was covered quite extensively in the press, both in Britain and abroad. According to Singapore’s “The Strait Times” Ian Roland Ritchie stole two Constables from MacDonald’s property while a tenant there, one worth £300 and the other £100 (20 May 1954). The same publication later reported that Ritchie was sentenced to two years in jail.
[4] See the painting’s verso for a label from P. & D. Colnaghi & Co., indicating that the work was purchased from Gilbert Davis.

Citations:
[a] ‘List of Items Missing from the House of the Rt. Hon. Malcolm MacDonald’, n.d., 124/7/93-109, Papers concerning properties, Personal Papers of Malcolm MacDonald, Archives and Special Collections, Durham University Library, Durham, England. https://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=ark/32150_s13197xm06v.xml
[b] “Mr. MacDondald's Tenant Accused” The Straits Times, 20 May 1954, Pp.1 https://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/newspapers/digitised/article/straitstimes19540520-1.2.7
[c] “Court Told–Books and Pictures by Masters Gone” Halifax Evening Courier, Tuesday, 18 May 1954 Pp. 5 [British Newspaper Archive]
[d] Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 56-57

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]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 56-57, N590.2 .A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Robert Hoozee, L'opera completa di Constable, 98, Rizzoli, Milano, Italy, 1979, p. 95, no. 81, 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. 30-31, no. 24, NJ18 C74 U5 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Basil Taylor, Constable : paintings, drawings and watercolours, , Phaidon, London, UK, 1973, no. 11, NJ18 C74 T39 + (YCBA) [YCBA]


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