Yale Center for British Art

Creator:
John Constable, 1776–1837, British
Title:
Hampstead Heath, with a Bonfire
Date:
ca. 1822
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
10 5/8 x 12 5/8 inches (27 x 32.1 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:
Inscribed on label on the work’s reverse, upper left-hand corner: “Painted by John Constable RA | Ella N Constable”; inscribed on label on the work’s reverse, lower left-hand corner: “Ernest (?) Colquhoun”
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B2001.2.241
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Subject Terms:
people | sky | flames | smoke | landscape | rural | buildings | cows | green (color) | grasses
Associated Places:
Greater London | Hampstead | England | United Kingdom | London | Europe
Currently On View:
Not on view
Exhibition History:
The Critique of Reason : Romantic Art, 1760–1860 (Yale University Art Gallery, 2015-03-06 - 2015-07-26)

An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29)

An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Royal Academy of Arts, 2007-10-20 - 2008-01-27)

Paul Mellon - A Cambridge Tribute (The Fitzwilliam Museum, 2007-06-12 - 2007-09-23)

The Paul Mellon Bequest : Treasures of a Lifetime (Yale Center for British Art, 2001-02-17 - 2001-04-29)
Publications:
John Baskett, Paul Mellon's Legacy: a Passion for British Art: Masterpieces from the Yale Center for British Art, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, p. 288, no. 99, ol. 99, N5220 M552 P38 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA)

Algernon Graves, Century of Loan Exhibitions 1813-1912, 5 v., London, 1913 - 1915, vol. 1, p. 199, Grosvenor Gallery 1889 no. 292, N5051 G73 OVERSIZE (YCBA)

Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 3, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA)

Graham Reynolds, The later paintings and drawings of John Constable, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1984, pp. 110-11(v.1), no. 22.49, pl. 370 (v.2), NJ18 C74 R485 + (YCBA)

Duncan Robinson, Paul Mellon: a Cambridge tribute, , The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge [England], 2007, pp. 31, 52, N5220 M552 P36 2007 (YCBA)

Malcolm Warner, The Paul Mellon Bequest : treasures of a lifetime, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2001, p. 35, N5247 M385 P28 2001 (YCBA)
Gallery Label:
From 1819 onwards Constable, his wife Maria, and their growing family spent part of every year living near Hampstead Heath, an open area of uncultivated land northwest of London. This setting spurred Constable on to a new phase of experimentation: he perfected the representation of dramatic meteorological effects, which were visible from the high ground of the Heath. To emphasize the relatively untamed wildness of the Heath, Constable often included tiny figures in the landscape. In the present example these figures are rendered with a startling economy of touch—they are composed of little more than flicks of black paint.\n\n Gallery label for An American's Passion for British Art - Paul Mellon's Legacy (Yale Center for British Art, 2007-04-18 - 2007-07-29)
Provenance:
Created by John Constable (1776-1837), the artist; by descent to his grand-daughter, Ella Nafeeseh Constable Mackinnon (1865-1934) [1] [a]; acquired by Ernest Alfred Colquhoun (1852-1930) [b]; by descent to his son, Edgar Edmund Colquhoun (1892-1953), Whittington House, near Lichfield, Staffordshire; by descent to his wife, Elizabeth Colquhoun (née Makin, 1908-1986?); by descent to her son, Ernest Patrick Colquhoun (1937-); purchased by John Baskett, London, for Paul Mellon, (‘View on Hampstead Heath, c.1821’) December 1981 [2]; by whom given to the Yale Center for British Art, September 1999. Notes: --- [a] See label on the work’s reverse, upper left-hand corner: “Ella N Constable” --- [b] See label on the work’s reverse, lower left-hand corner: “Ernest (?) Colquhoun” Citations: --- [1] Graham Reynolds, The later paintings and drawings of John Constable, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 1984, pp. 110-11(v.1), no. 22.49, pl. 370 (v.2), NJ18 C74 R485 + (YCBA) [YCBA] --- [2] John Baskett papers. Yale Center for British Art, Archives, John Baskett Ltd. stock book, 1967-1990, Box 1377, pp.130-131 [https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3080199]
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:38542