Visitors to Kenwood House can see a trio of small sketches by John Constable said to be among the most evocative and recognisable images of Hampstead Heath.
On loan from the Royal Academy of Arts, the oils will hang in the Breakfast Room at the English Heritage-run house, alongside Hampstead Heath with Pond and Bathers which is in Kenwood's own collection.
The loan is part of a swap with the Piccadilly gallery, who have borrowed three of Kenwood’s Angelica Kauffman paintings for their current exhibition.
The sketches are among 100 made by Constable shortly after he rented a house in Hampstead in summer 1819. The Heath quickly became a source of artistic inspiration and a favourite sketching ground.
Constable lived at 2 Lower Terrace in the summers of 1821 and 1822, just a few minutes’ walk from Branch Hill. It's still possible to work out where he made these sketches which vividly capture the changing effects of light and weather on the skies and landscape.
Heath with Pond and Bathers was painted in 1921 the same year as Hampstead Looking West (14 July 1821) Cloud Study, Hampstead, Tree at Right (11 September 1821) and Hampstead Heath Looking Towards Harrow, (27 September 1821)
Considered one of Britain’s greatest landscape painters, Constable used sketching as research which he could refer to as he planned more finished pictures in his studio.
The Heath and its changing skies became a subject he returned to again and again. Cloud Study, Hampstead, Tree at Right, for example, is one of around 40 sketches he made of the sky and clouds in a practice he called ‘skying’.
Louise Cooling, curator at Kenwood: "We are thrilled to be able to display this trio of sketches alongside our own Constable painting at Kenwood, just a stone’s throw from where they were painted.
"John Constable was continually drawn to Hampstead Heath and its awe-inspiring landscape, which continues to inspire artists today. For Constable, the sky was the ‘source of light in Nature and governs everything’ and this is captured perfectly in these beautiful sketches."
Visitors can see the Constable sketches at Kenwood House until July. Entry is free.
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