JOHN CONSTABLE R.A.
(1776-1837)
A Path through a Wood
inscribed on a label on the reverse: 'Road scene with trees and a brook (?)/ By J Constable RA/ from Miss Isabel Constable to Clifford Constable'
Provenance
Isabel Constable
Clifford Constable
Private Collection, UK
Literature
Graham Reynolds, The Early Paintings and Drawings of John Constable, 1984, no. 01.40 (illus.)
Charles Rhyne suggests that this painting may be a study from nature showing the influence of Jacob van Ruisdael, whose work Constable was studying in about 1800-01. During this period, Constable was working in Derbyshire and Staffordshire as well as Suffolk and living primarily with his sister Martha's parents-in-law, the Whalleys, at Fenton in Staffordshire. This painting and a few other works that survive from this early period in Constable's career show the emergence of a confident and naturalistic approach to landscape painting, which was to culminate in his first Royal Academy exhibit in the following year.
