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John Constable, R.A.
1776-1837
winter, after jacob van ruysdael
inscribed by the artist with an imitation signature of Ruysdael l.r.: Ruifdael
and extensively inscribed by the artist on the stretcher: Copied from the Original Picture/by Ruisdael in the pofsefsion of Sir Robt Peel Bt by me/John Constable RA/at Hampstead Sep.1832/P.S. Color(...)Dog added(...)only(...)Size of the Original(...)and Showed this picture to Dear John Dunthorne Octr 30 1832(...)this was the last time I(...)poor J Dunthorne died on friday (all Saints) the 2d of November. 1832-at 4 o clock in the afternoon Aged 34. years.
oil on canvas, unlined, in a carved wood frame
58 by 71 cm.; 23 by 28 in.
Constable painted this copy of a winter scene by Jacob van Ruysdael in September 1832. On 4th September, he told C.R. Leslie of his intention to spend a week in Hampstead 'to copy the winter piece - for which indeed my mind seems in a fit state', this last comment a reference to his grief at the recent death of his friend John Fisher on 25th August. Constable borrowed Sir Robert Peel's painting by Ruysdael (now in the John G. Johnson Collection, Philadelphia, Hofstede de Groot 1005), and an indication of his intention and regard for Ruysdael is provided by his own commentary on the subject recorded in his third lecture at the Royal Institute.
Ruysdael's own understanding of weather conditions, in this case an impending change in wind direction indicated by the position of the windmills and a likely thaw before morning, reflected Constable's own care for such records in true landscape painting. His copy after Ruysdael was remarkably accurate and, according to Lucas's annotated copy of C.R. Leslie's Life of Constable, Sir Robert Peel insisted on Constable making some change to distinguish the painting from the original, hence Constable's addition of a dog behind the principal figure. He had also introduced a dog to his copy of a Teniers landscape, painted in 1823 for William Dodsworth, verger of Salisbury Cathedral (collection of the late F. Wilder).
Constable's letter to Leslie of 4th September, together with his lengthy inscription on the stretcher, referring to John Dunthorne who died just two months later, indicate that this painting with its wintry subject was a suitable reflection of his desperate unhappiness at the death of two of his closest friends that autumn.
Provenance:
The artist's sale, Foster's, 15-16th May 1838, lot 45;
Edward Gambier Howe, by 1902;
By descent to the present owner
Exhibited:
Tate Gallery, John Constable, 18th February - 25th April 1976, no. 292
Literature:
Robert Hoozee, L'Opera Completa di Constable, 1979, p.84;
John Constable: Further Documents and Correspondence, edited by Leslie Parris and Conal Shields and Ian Fleming-Williams, 1975, p.61 and 334;
Graham Reynolds, The Later Paintings and Drawings of John Constable, 1984, p.242, no.32.43, ill. pl. 854;
Malcolm Cormack, Constable, 1986, p.220