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Stour Valley and Dedham Church
John Constable (English, 1776–1837)
about 1815
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
55.6 x 77.8 cm (21 7/8 x 30 5/8 in.)
Credit Line
Warren Collection—William Wilkins Warren Fund
Accession Number48.266
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
Constable’s landscapes capture specific locations of the English counties where he lived and worked. The countryside depicted here, along the border of Suffolk and Essex counties, became known as “Constable’s country,” due to the artist’s many renderings of this location. “I should paint my own places best,” claimed Constable. “Painting is but another word for feeling.” Commissioned by Thomas Fitzhugh as a wedding present to his bride, Philadelphia Godfrey, this image of fertile fields awaiting cultivation takes as its vantage point a hill on the estate of Miss Godfrey’s family, Old Hall Park, which she would leave for London following her marriage.
Provenance1814, commissioned by Thomas Fitzhugh (b. 1770 - d. 1856) for his wife, Philadelphia Godfrey Fitzhugh (d. 1869), Plas Power, Denbighshire, Wales [see note 1]; probably until about 1895, by descent within the family [see note 2]. April 27, 1897, sold by Stephen Thomas Gooden (dealer; b. 1856 - d. 1909), London to Thomas Agnew and Sons, London (stock no. 8005); September 11, 1897, sold by Agnew to George Jay Gould (b. 1864 - d. 1923), New York [see note 3]. Between about 1904 and 1920, purchased by James McLean (b. 1846 - d. 1920), New York [see note 4]; by descent to his daughter, Alice Throckmorton McLean (b. 1886 - d. 1968), New York; about 1948, sold by Alice McLean to John Mitchell (dealer), New York; 1948, sold by John Mitchell to the MFA for $16,250. (Accession Date: March 11, 1948)
NOTES:
[1] See R. B. Beckett, "A Constable of 1814-15," Burlington Magazine, January 1956, p. 18. On October 25, 1814, Constable wrote in a letter to his future wife, Maria Bicknell: "I have almost done a picture of 'The Valley' for Mr. Fitzhugh (a present for Miss G to contemplate in London)...." Philadelphia Godfrey married Thomas Fitzhugh on November 11, 1814. On June 30, 1815, Constable wrote again to Miss Bicknell, "I am now going to send home Mrs. Fitzhugh's picture of Dedham." The view shown in the MFA painting is that of the valley from just outside the grounds of Old Hall, the Godfrey family estate. Constable executed a number of oil sketches and pencil drawings for this painting in the fall of 1814, the earliest (Leeds City Art Galleries, inv. no. 10/34) dated September 5. See Graham Reynolds, Constable's England (New York, 1983), p. 60, cat. no. 15, and ibid., The Early Paintings and Drawings of John Constable (New Haven and London, 1996), text vol., p. 205, cat. no. 15.1.
[2] The painting was probably dispersed around the time of the deaths of the couple's sons, Thomas Fitzhugh and Godfrey Fitzhugh, both in 1895.
[3] Many thanks to art historian Alison Clarke for supplying the information about the painting's sale history through Agnew, as well as a photograph of it in the Gould collection (Duveen Brothers photograph album, Getty Research Institute, Duveen Brothers records, series I.B., Box 45). Gould lent the painting to the Saint Louis Exposition, 1904, cat. no. 90.
[4] According to John Mitchell, in a letter to W.G. Constable of the MFA (February 17, 1948), James McClean purchased the painting "fifty to sixty-five years ago" in England. However, George Jay Gould still owned it in 1904, so it must have been acquired at a later date than the dealer claimed.
NOTES:
[1] See R. B. Beckett, "A Constable of 1814-15," Burlington Magazine, January 1956, p. 18. On October 25, 1814, Constable wrote in a letter to his future wife, Maria Bicknell: "I have almost done a picture of 'The Valley' for Mr. Fitzhugh (a present for Miss G to contemplate in London)...." Philadelphia Godfrey married Thomas Fitzhugh on November 11, 1814. On June 30, 1815, Constable wrote again to Miss Bicknell, "I am now going to send home Mrs. Fitzhugh's picture of Dedham." The view shown in the MFA painting is that of the valley from just outside the grounds of Old Hall, the Godfrey family estate. Constable executed a number of oil sketches and pencil drawings for this painting in the fall of 1814, the earliest (Leeds City Art Galleries, inv. no. 10/34) dated September 5. See Graham Reynolds, Constable's England (New York, 1983), p. 60, cat. no. 15, and ibid., The Early Paintings and Drawings of John Constable (New Haven and London, 1996), text vol., p. 205, cat. no. 15.1.
[2] The painting was probably dispersed around the time of the deaths of the couple's sons, Thomas Fitzhugh and Godfrey Fitzhugh, both in 1895.
[3] Many thanks to art historian Alison Clarke for supplying the information about the painting's sale history through Agnew, as well as a photograph of it in the Gould collection (Duveen Brothers photograph album, Getty Research Institute, Duveen Brothers records, series I.B., Box 45). Gould lent the painting to the Saint Louis Exposition, 1904, cat. no. 90.
[4] According to John Mitchell, in a letter to W.G. Constable of the MFA (February 17, 1948), James McClean purchased the painting "fifty to sixty-five years ago" in England. However, George Jay Gould still owned it in 1904, so it must have been acquired at a later date than the dealer claimed.