Golding Constable's Kitchen Garden

John Constable (1776 - 1837)

Christchurch Mansion

circa 1815

This sparkling landscape depicts the view from Constable's parental house in Suffolk; it was painted from an upper window or the roof. It depicts the kitchen garden belonging to the artist's father and it was conceived with the painting of the Flower garden as a panorama, moving from the village at the left of the flower garden to the refectory and houses at the right of the kitchen garden. In the distance, workers harvest and thresh wheat. The luminosity of the fields and the sky and the unusual angle of vision immediately reveals that this is an eye-witness account of the scene. The painting was part of the Ernest Edward Cook's collection who bequeathed the entire contents of his house to the Art Fund. The bequest comprised of over 150 paintings, tapestries, furniture, silver and porcelain and was distributed to nearly 100 UK galleries.

• Medium: oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 33.4 x 51.1cm
• ArtFunded in: 1955
• Bequeathed by Ernest Edward Cook through The Art Fund

Provenance

Part of the E E Cook collection, grandson of Thomas Cook of Thomas Cook Travel Agency. Died in 1955 and bequeathed the entire contents of his house at Bath to the National Art Collections Fund.

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