This important drawing was made by Constable on a visit to Salisbury in 1820, Constable revisited the sheet twice, first in 1826 as the model for one of his rare etchings and again in 1836 as the basis for an engraving.
In the summer of 1820 Constable, accompanied by his wife, Maria and their two small children, spent almost six weeks staying with the Fishers in Salisbury. It was during this trip that he explored the environs of the city and made his only excursion to see Stonehenge. Using a medium sized sketchbook Constable recorded his walks with Fisher; on 13th July, shortly after his arrival, Constable and Fisher left Salisbury through St Anne’s Gate towards the east of the city and walked to the hamlet of Milford. Constable made a rapid study of a fallen willow stump by the side of the River Bourne with a group of farm buildings in the distance next to the distinctive triple arch of Milford Bridge. Constable then made this drawing, showing the view from Milford Bridge looking back towards Salisbury with the cathedral spire silhouetted on the horizon. The drawing, which was executed rapidly in pencil is an unusually complete composition; the serpentine road acting as an obvious repoussoir anchors the foreground, whilst the presence of the figure on the bridge gives an indication of narrative usually absent from Constable’s sketchbook studies. This may explain why Constable returned to the composition later in his career.
The rare etching Constable made after this drawing has always been dated to 1826 on the bases of an apparently inscribed impression.[1] The etching was certainly finished by 1833 when Constable gave an impression, along with an impression of Constable’s etching of Netley Abbey, to the great patron and collector John Sheepshanks.[2] This impression is inscribed: ‘Etched by John Constable and present by him to John Sheepshanks, Esq – March 4, 1833. 1st state before roulette work.’[3] No second state is recorded. Constable had been taught to etch early in his career by the engraver John Thomas Smith. Constable’s decision to turn the drawing into an etching is particularly revealing. The rapidly executed study is made up of incisive marks with limited areas of regular shading, as such it lent itself to being reproduced as an etching: the bur thrown up by the etching needle simulates the drawing technique. Constable returned to this drawing in 1836 making a watercolour copy which in turn was used as the basis for an engraving by A.R. Freebairn which was used as the headpiece to an extract from Thomas Wharton’s ‘An Ode to Summer’ published in the second vilume of The Book of Gems: The Poets and Artists of Great Britain edited by S. C. Hall.[4] The drawing evidently remained accessible in Constable’s studio, it remained with the Constable family until 2001 and had not previously been on the market.
John Constable
Milford Bridge, c.1826
Etching
5 ¼ x 7 ½ inches;133 x 190 mm
© The Trustees of the British Museum (1896.0821.19)
References
- See Graham Reynolds, The Later Paintingd and Drawings of John Constable, New Haven and London, 1984, cat. no.26.26.
- See Graham Reynolds, The Later Paintingd and Drawings of John Constable, New Haven and London, 1984, cat. no. 33.10.
- Now Philadelphia Museum of Art see Graham Reynolds, The Later Paintingd and Drawings of John Constable, New Haven and London, 1984, cat. no.33.9.
- See Graham Reynolds, The Later Paintingd and Drawings of John Constable, New Haven and London, 1984, cat. no.36.17.