Landscape with a goatherd and goats (after Claude)
John Constable1823
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Sydney, Australia
The faithful copying of works of art, usually famous ones, by earlier masters was accepted practice for apprentice painters from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century. Considered a vital part of visual education, it often implied homage as well. This is the case with John Constable's loving replication of Claude's 'Landscape with a goatherd and goats'. The English painter took pains to evoke the spirit of his French original, not simply to imitate its surface appearance. Thus the Constable could not be mistaken for the Claude despite adhering to it in every important respect of colouring and composition. The result is an imaginative effort fascinating on its own terms. Constable wrote to his wife, Maria, at the time, 'I have a little Claude in hand, a Grove scene of great beauty and I wish to make a nice copy from it to be useful to me as long as I live... It contains all that I wish to do in landscape'. Seldom in art history has a prophecy of such modesty proven so extravagantly true: Constable went on to redefine the landscape conventions of his period.
AGNSW Handbook, 1999.
- Title: Landscape with a goatherd and goats (after Claude)
- Creator: John Constable
- Date Created: 1823
- Physical Dimensions: 53.3 x 44.5 cm stretcher; 65.0 x 58.5 x 10.0 cm frame
- Provenance: Clifford Constable, England, This work remained in Constable's possession until his death in 1837. It passed to his daughter Isabel Constable (1822-88) and by descent to her nephew Clifford Constable, being sold with his collection at Christie's London, 23 May 1894, lot no. 60. P & D Colnaghi and Co, London/England, Purchased at Christie's London, 23 June 1894 from Clifford Constable's sale lot no.60 Collector unknown, Anon. sale sold Christie's London, 1 February 1924, lot no. 10 Pawsey & Payne, London/England, [dealer] Purchased from Christie's London, 1 February 1924, lot no.10 Appleby's, London/England, [dealer] Purchased by the National Art Collections Fund National Art Collections Fund, London/England, Gift of the National Art Collections Fund 1961
- Type: Painting
- Rights: Gift of the National Art Collections Fund 1961
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Signature & Date: Not signed. Not dated.
- Object Other Titles: Landscape with goatherd and goats
- Artist Country: England
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