Extensive Landscape with Clouds

c. 1850

This sketch is similar to one painted by John Constable, but it was made by his youngest son. Lionel Constable shared his father’s passion for the English countryside and exhibited a number of works at London’s Royal Academy of Arts. Eventually, he gave up painting in favor of photography, occasionally taking pictures of landscape views his father had painted.

Medium	oil on wood-pulp board, mounted on panel
Dimensions	9 9/16 x 15 3/8 in. (24.3 x 39.1 cm)
Object Number	2007.8.59
Acquisition	Gift of the Manton Art Foundation in memory of Sir Edwin and Lady Manton, 2007
Status	On View

Image Caption

Lionel Bicknell Constable, Extensive Landscape with Clouds, c. 1850, oil on wood-pulp board, mounted on panel. Clark Art Institute, gift of the Manton Art Foundation in memory of Sir Edwin and Lady Manton, 2007.8.59

Select Bibliography

Reynolds, Graham. The Early Paintings and Drawings of John Constable. 2 vol. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 1996. Clarke, Jay, ed. Landscape, Innovation, and Nostalgia: The Manton Collection of British Art. Williamstown, MA: The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2012. Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.

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EUROPEAN PAINTINGS CATALOGUE ENTRY

Provenance

Isabel Constable, the artist’s sister, by descent (d. 1888, probably her sale, Christie’s, London, 17 June 1892, no. 233, 234, or 238, as by John Constable, sold to Shepherd Bros.);¹ [Shepherd Bros., London, probably from 1892]; Victor Rienaecker, London;² H. L. Fison (until 1969, his sale, Christie’s, London, 6 Nov. 1969, no. 19, as A View in Sussex, by John Constable, sold to Agnew’s); [Agnew’s, London, from 1969]; Mrs. A. Mackinnon; private collection (until Nov. 2000, sold to Salander-O’Reilly); [Salander-O’Reilly Galleries, New York, sold to Manton, 30 May 2001, as The Sussex Downs, by John Constable]; Sir Edwin A. G. Manton, New York (2001–d. 2005); Manton Family Art Foundation (2005–7, given to the Clark, as The Sussex Downs, attributed to John Constable); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2007. 1. The Fison sale, 1969, notes that the picture had been in the collection of Isabel Constable, and a label on the back of the painting states that it was bought by Shepherd Bros. at one of Isabel Constable’s sales. This probably indicates the 1892 sale, in which eight lots, some with multiple items, were sold to Shepherd. This work was most likely included in either no. 233, “Studies of Landscapes, etc.,” no. 234, “Five studies of Landscapes and Clouds, in two frames,” or no. 238, “Hampstead: evening, 1823; and a Landscape.” 2. The Fison sale, 1969, and a label on the back of the painting state that it was owned by Rienaecker.