Lines and Colors art blog

Eye Candy for Today: Constable graphite drawing

View of Cat Hanger, John Constable landscape pencil drawing

View of Cat Hanger, John Constable landscape pencil drawing

View of Cat Hanger, John Constable

Graphite on paper, roughly 8 x 14″ (20 x35 cm), in the collection of the Morgan Library and Museum.

Drawn on two sheets of a sketchbook, this scene is of a farm on an estate in West Sussex, England. Constable’s nuanced command of tones and delicate indications of clouds and textures makes the drawing feel remarkably complete.

View of Cat Hanger, Morgan Library

Comments

2 responses to “Eye Candy for Today: Constable graphite drawing”

  1. It’s very beautiful.
    George O’Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont, was the major landowner and an enthousiastic canal builder. Probably commissioned by him as a patron of art and an art collector.

  2. John Constable’s quote from a letter:

    “I have been living a hermit-life, though always with my pencil in my hand.. . How much real delight have I had with the study of landscape this summer!”

    Inscribed by the artist in pencil at upper left, “Petworth Sepr 12 / 1834 Cat Hanger”.