Detail View: The AMICA Library: The White Horse

AMICA ID: 
TFC_.Constable.43-1-147
AMICA Library Year: 
1999
Object Type: 
Paintings
Creator Name: 
Constable, John
Creator Nationality: 
European; British
Creator Dates/Places: 
1776-1837
Creator Name-CRT: 
John Constable
Title: 
The White Horse
View: 
Full View
Creation Date: 
1819
Creation Start Date: 
1819
Creation End Date: 
1819
Materials and Techniques: 
oil on canvas (lined)
Dimensions: 
51 3/4 x 74 1/8 in. (131.4 x 188.3 cm.)
AMICA Contributor: 
The Frick Collection
Owner Location: 
New York, New York, USA
ID Number: 
43.1.147
Credit Line: 
Purchased
Inscriptions: 
Signed and dated at lower left: "John Constable, A.R.A. / London F. 1819"
Rights: 
Context: 
The painting depicts a tow-horse being ferried across the river Stour in Suffolk, just below Flatford Lock at a point where the tow-path switched banks. Constable, who described the scene as a placid representation of a serene, grey morning, summer, wenton in later years to comment: There are generally in the life of an artist perhaps one, two or three pictures, on which hang more than usual interest this is mine. The painting was well received when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy exhibition of 1819, and it was purchased by Constable's friend Archdeacon John Fisher. Constable bought back the painting in 1829 and kept it the rest of his life. There is a full-scale oil sketch for The White Horse in the National Gallery, Washington.
Context - Place: 
Europe--United Kingdom--England--Stour (river)
Related Document Description: 
New York, The Frick Collection. An Illustrated Catalogue. Vol.1, Paintings. [cat.]. 1968, pp.29-34, p.31 (reproduced). New York, The Frick Collection. Art in the Frick Collection: Paintings, Sculpture, Decorative Arts [cat.]. Comp. C. Ryskamp, et al., 1996, p.102 (reproduced in color).
Related Image Identifier Link: 
TFC_.constable.43-1-147.tif