Hadleigh Castle: Large Plate

David Lucas|John Constable

1830–49 · Mezzotint; trial proof · Drawings and Prints

In 1829, Lucas became involved in a project with John Constable to execute a select group of Constable’s landscape paintings in mezzotint, a tonal engraving medium in which the plate is roughened with a tool called a rocker so that its burr retains the printing ink to varying degrees. Constable saw the early proofs and requested that Lucas bring him more examples: "Bring me another large ‘Castle,’ or two, or three, for it is mighty fine, though it looks as if all the chimney sweepers in Christendom had been at work on it and thrown their soot bags up in the air." This large plate was first published in 1849, following Constable’s death, and is based on a painting that Constable associated with "melancholy grandeur," a mood which is echoed here before the addition of figures and animals in later trials.

Artist

David Lucas|John Constable

Date

1830–49

Medium

Mezzotint; trial proof

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1927