Old Houses at Harnham Bridge, Salisbury thumbnail 1
Old Houses at Harnham Bridge, Salisbury thumbnail 2
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
Request to view at the Prints & Drawings Study Room, level F , Case EDUC, Shelf 15

Old Houses at Harnham Bridge, Salisbury

Watercolour
14/11/1821 (painted), 09/09/1831 (retouched)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

In this watercolour you can see the touches of pure white that are characteristic of Constable's later oil paintings. These may have been the result of retouching in 1831. On the back Constable notes that the retouching was done at Hampstead, on the day after the Coronation of King William IV, which he had attended. He said that he had been ‘eleven hours in the [Westminster] Abbey'.

Constable's grasp of linear perspective is still not perfect, even at this late date in his career. His real interest is in the contrast between light and shadow. Although the watercolour gives more solid blocks of tone than pen or pencil, it is applied with visible diagonal brushstrokes. This gives it a linear quality.


Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleOld Houses at Harnham Bridge, Salisbury (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Pencil and watercolour on a page from a sketchbook
Brief description
John Constable, Old Houses on Harnham Bridge, Salisbury, 1821, Reynolds cat. no. 240
Physical description
Water-colour of a house and bridge.
Dimensions
  • Height: 173mm
  • Width: 262mm
Marks and inscriptions
  • '14 Nov 182[1]' (Inscribed below on left with the brush by the artist.)
  • 'Old Houses on Harnham Bridge. Salisbury Novr. 14 1821, and retuouch [? retouched] at Hampstd. the day after the Coronation. of Wm. 4th, at which I was present--being 11 [11 is delteted] elven hours in the Abbey.' (Inscribed on the back in pencil by the artist)
Credit line
Bequeathed by Isabel Constable, daughter of the artist
Historical context
The chief of Constable's four exhibits in 1821 was 'Landscape: Noon' ('The Hay Wain') (National Gallery No. 1207; for the full-scale sketch see No. 209 [987-1900] in this Catalogue). His third child, Charles Golding Constable, was born on 29 March. He accompanied Archdeacon John Fisher on his visitation of Berkshire in June, took No. 2 Lower Terrace, Hampstead, for his family during the summer and autumn and paid a visit to Fisher at Salisbury in November.

[G Reynolds, 1973, p. 135]
Subjects depicted
Place depicted
Summary
In this watercolour you can see the touches of pure white that are characteristic of Constable's later oil paintings. These may have been the result of retouching in 1831. On the back Constable notes that the retouching was done at Hampstead, on the day after the Coronation of King William IV, which he had attended. He said that he had been ‘eleven hours in the [Westminster] Abbey'.

Constable's grasp of linear perspective is still not perfect, even at this late date in his career. His real interest is in the contrast between light and shadow. Although the watercolour gives more solid blocks of tone than pen or pencil, it is applied with visible diagonal brushstrokes. This gives it a linear quality.
Bibliographic references
  • Catalogue of the Constable Collection, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973, pp. 135, 149-150
  • Timothy Wilcox, Constable and Salisbury. The Soul of Landscape London: Scala Publishers Ltd, 2011. ISBN: 978 1 85759 678 6.
Other number
240, plate 184 - Reynolds catalogue no.
Collection
Accession number
218-1888

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdFebruary 20, 2004
Record URL
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest