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Creator:
John Constable, 1776–1837
Title:
Flatford Lock [2001, The Paul Mellon Bequest: Treasures of a Lifetime, exhibition catalogue]
Former Title(s):
The Stour by Flatford Mill [1945 label on the back of the painting]
Date:
between 1810 and 1811
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on paper on canvas
Dimensions:
14 1/2 x 14 1/2 inches (36.8 x 36.8 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Label on the back of the painting: "This picture by Constable called “The Stour by Flatford Mill” was bequeathed by the will of Elizabeth Wyatt Mallet to Adrian Lewis Matthews, with liberty to me to have the enjoyment of it during my life or for such shorther period as I should think fit. | E Hugo Mallet, 28 May 1945"; other label at the top of the back of the painting inscribed in ink: "The Stour, Near Flatford Mill [Near Flatford Mill comes from 1996, Reynolds, The Early Paintings and Drawings of John Constable, catalogue raisonné as label is torn] | painted by John Constable RA | Ella N. Constable"; other label: "The Tate Gallery | John Constable | Lock at Flatford | Constable | 18 February - 25 April 1976| 96 A."

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2001.2.239
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B2001.2.239FR
Subject Terms:
canal | clouds | figures | landscape | lock (hydraulic structure) | river | Romantic
Associated Places:
England | Europe | Stour | United Kingdom
Access:
Not on view
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:38538
Export:
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IIIF Manifest:
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One of the mills on the river Stour owned by Constable’s father was at Flatford, and the buildings, waterways, and locks at the mill were to provide some of the recurrent motifs of Constable’s art. This is one of a series of on-the-spot oil sketches that he used as raw material for the larger, more finished studio-picture Flatford Mill from the Lock, shown at the Royal Academy exhibition of 1812; in the larger work the view extends further to the left to include the distinctive red-brick buildings of the mill. Malcolm Warner

Warner, Malcolm and John Baskett. The Paul Mellon Bequest : treasures of a lifetime. New Haven : Yale Center for British Art, 2001, p. 31
Created by John Constable (1776-1837), the artist; probably by descent to his daughter Isabel Constable (1822-1888) [1]; by descent to her niece, Ella Nafeeseh Mackinnon (née Constable, 1865-1934) [a][2];...; acquired by Elizabeth Wyatt Mallet (née Fry) (1861-1940) [3]; bequeathed to her nephew, Adrian Lewis Matthews (1904-1974) in 1940 [b]; by descent to his nephew, Captain Francis Simon Oldbury Burne (ca. 1930-2013) in 1974; purchased by John Baskett Ltd. from Burne Trustees, London, on behalf of Paul Mellon, June 1987 [c]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, September 1999.

Notes:
[1] The title and dimensions of this work correspond with a work that Miss Isabel Constable lent to the Grosvenor Gallery for its Winter Exhibition in 1889. The work is listed in the exhibition catalog as “274. The Stour, Near Flatford Mill. Size 13 x 14 inches.” See Walter Armstrong, A Century of British Art from 1737 to 1837. London: Henry Good and Son, 1889, p. 104. https://archive.org/details/centuryofbritish00gros_0/mode/2up?q=%22The+Stour%2C+Near+Flatford%22
[2] A fragmentary label on the back of the painting reads “The Stour, Near Flatford (?) Painted by John Constable RA. Ella N. Constable.”
[3] A label on the back of the painting reads: “This picture by Constable called “The Stour by Flatford Mill” was bequeathed by the will of Elizabeth Wyatt Mallet to Adrian Lewis Matthews, with liberty to me to have the enjoyment of it during my life or for such shorter period as I should think fit.” It is signed and dated by E Hugo Mallet, 28 May 1945. Eugene Hugo Mallet (1865-1950) was Elizabeth Wyatt Mallet’s husband.

Citations
[a] Graham Reynolds, The early paintings and drawings of John Constable, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 1996, v.1, p.167, 12.10, pl. 938
[b] Ibid.
[c] John Baskett papers. Yale Center for British Art, Archives, John Baskett Ltd. stock book, 1967-1990, Box 1377, pp. 146-147 [https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3080199]

The Paul Mellon Bequest : Treasures of a Lifetime (Yale Center for British Art, 2001-02-17 - 2001-04-29) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition] [Exhibition Description]

Robert Hoozee, L'opera completa di Constable, 98, Rizzoli, Milano, Italy, 1979, pp. 96-97, no. 97, NJ18 C74 A12 +H66 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Leslie Parris, Constable : paintings, watercolours & drawings, , Tate Publishing, London, UK, 1976, pp. 74, 197, no. 96a, NJ18 C74 P37 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Carlos Peacock, John Constable : the man and his work, J. Baker, London, 1965, p. 102, pl. 22, NJ18 .C74 P43 + Oversize (YCBA) [YCBA]

Graham Reynolds, The early paintings and drawings of John Constable, The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, New Haven, 1996, v.1, p.167..., 12.10, pl. 938 (v.2), NJ18 C74 R484 1996 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Warner, The Paul Mellon Bequest : treasures of a lifetime, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2001, p. 31, N5247 M385 P28 2001 (YCBA) [YCBA]


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