"The Later Paintings and Drawings of John Constable" by Graham Reynolds

The Later Paintings and Drawings of John Constable Graham Reynolds, J. Constable

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Format:: Hardback
Publication date:: 10 Sep 1984
ISBN:: 9780300031515
Imprint:: Paul Mellon Centre
Dimensions:: 940 pages: 298 x 216mm
Illustrations:: 833 b-w + 255 color illus.

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Arts »
History of Art »

John Constable, one of the most beloved of British painters, is renowned for his poetic approach to nature and his extraordinary use of broken color. In this beautiful two-volume set, the dean of Constable scholars, Graham Reynolds, discusses all the paintings and drawings the artist produced between 1790 and1816, both before and after his breakthrough into the original style that is the basis of his fame. Together with Reynolds`s award-winning The Later Paintings and Drawings of John Constable (1984), the books are a catalogue raisonne‚ of this artist`s monumental oeuvre.The two volumes, one of text and one of plates, describe and reproduce 1370 paintings and drawings in chronological order. They begin with Constable`s juvenilia and tentative experiments before he went to London in 1799 to become a professional artist. Next are some lesser-known works—elegant figure studies of girls, Constable`s first portraits, and his Lake District watercolors. Finally are the works after 1808—Dedham Vale: morning, Flatford Mill from a Lock on the Stour, A Summerland, The Stour Valley and Dedham Village, and the recently rediscovered The Wheatfield—works that made Constable a major force in British landscape painting. The volumes also include Constable`s numerous sketches of his homeland around East Bergholt and Dedham from this period, drawings on which he based his later masterpieces. An appendix records and reproduces, as addenda to The Later Paintings and Drawings, 94 works produced between 1817 and 1836 that have come to light since those books were published.

"Graham Reynolds's handling of this enormous task is masterly. . . . He succeeds in dealing with the most famous and most discussed of Constable's paintings in a way that is both commendably concise but still eminently readable."?Cecilia Powell, Art History

"[Reynolds'] magnum opus [is] careful and confident....The book is a handsome production."?Malcolm Warner, Journal of the Royal Society of Arts

"The present catalogue is the crowning achievement of the dean of Constable scholars, Graham Reynolds. . . . Really for the first time, one can now (at last) gain a vivid and truly comprehensive picture of Constable's work in all media from the latter half of his career. . . . [A] monumental achievement. . . . The most indispensable contribution yet made to the large literature on the artist. . . . The Later Paintings And Drawings Of John Constable is truly a magnificent achievement."?Louis Hawes, The Art Bulletin

"This impressive publication, the fruit of long meditation on Constable's art, makes an outstanding contribution to the expanding knowledge of an artist of international stature who sought to give substance to a vision of England at the time of the Industrial Revolution; it is a vision that may well haunt those who witness the turmoils of our own tormented age."?Denys Sutton, Apollo

"It is rare for a comprehensive work of high scholarship like this, also to be visually beautiful and historically entertaining. Nobody is better qualified than the author to approach such a task."?Arts Review

"Reynold's catalogue is a remarkably fresh piece of work which presents new ideas as well as new material. . . . From now on The Later Paintings And Drawings Of John Constable will be the standard work on the subject, a work to be liberally annotated perhaps, but certainly one to be enjoyed and one for which all students of English painting should be profoundly grateful.??Leslie Parris and Ian Fleming-Williams, The Burlington Magazine

"Of the 1,087 pieces that are annotated and illustrated in this 'catalogue raisonne' of Constable's final two decades, roughly one-quarter have never been reproduced. The value of having them firmly dated and available at last is inestimable; for the first time, one can trace the unbroken development of his genius."?Allan G. Artner, Chicago Tribune

"Essential for art history collections."?Library Journal

"An exhilarating book, in which it is possible to follow the general development of Constable's work together with that of individual paintings. The pencil sketches, oil and watercolour studies from nature, full-scale compositional sketches and finished Academy paintings are catalogued (and in nearly all cases reproduced) in a way which makes the achievement of Constable's later years clearer than ever before." ?Peter Campbell, The London Review of Books

"The Later Paintings And Drawings Of John Constable is a remarkable achievement, bringing together, as it does, the discussion of more than a thousand works."?John Gage, Times Literary Supplement

"The present catalogue is the crowning achievement of the dean of Constable scholars, Graham Reynolds, who began his researches on the artist over forty years ago. . . . Truly a magnificent achievement."?Louis Hawes, The Art Bulletin

Awarded the 1984 Mitchell Prize for History of Art given by the Mitchell Foundation for the History of Art