Terms and conditions of use
A boat passing a lock
(c. 1823-1826)
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Measurements
- 102.2 × 128.0 cm
- Accession Number
- 2900-4
- Department
- International Painting
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Felton Bequest, 1951
This digital record has been made available on NGV Collection Online through the generous support of Digitisation Champion Ms Carol Grigor through Metal Manufactures Limited - Gallery location
- Not on display
- About this work
-
John Constable’s powerful and original conception of what he termed ‘natural painture’ first came to fruition in six great canvases depicting the Stour Valley in the Suffolk countryside, which he exhibited at London’s Royal Academy between 1819 and 1825. With these large works Constable also redefined the notion of a ‘finished’ picture by imbuing them with the spontaneous freedom of the rapidly executed sketch. One of the subjects in his series, a lock adjacent to his father’s mill, was taken up by the artist in a number of versions between 1823 and 1826. A boat passing a lock is one of these.
- Subjects (general)
- Human Figures Landscapes Structures
- Subjects (specific)
- boats clouds locks (hydraulic structures) riverine landscapes rural areas Stour, River (river) Suffolk (county) United Kingdom (nation)
- Movements
- Romanticism (modern European styles )
- Provenance
-
Private collection, Exeter; with Arthur Tooth and Sons (dealer), London, 1950 (stock no. A2469); there exhibited Recent Acquisitions V, November – December, 1950, no. 4; from where purchased, on the advice of A. J. L. McDonnell, for the Felton Bequest, 1950; exhibited National Gallery, London, 1951, prior to being sent to Victoria; arrived Melbourne, 1951.
Exhibited Constable, Tate Gallery, London, 1991, no. 159; Constable: Impressions of land, sea and sky, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; Museum of New Zealeand Te Papa Tongarewa, Wellington, 2006, no. 72