Yarmouth Jetty

1822

John Constable

Associated Names
John Constable

Artist, British, 1776 - 1837

This painting shows a seaside view with a low horizon. A sandy beach is on the left, with ships and sailboats sailing on the water in the distance on the right. From the beach on the left, a pier in the distance extends into the water, with people walking on it. There is a pink building on the beach near the end of the pier. Closer to us, near the bottom left corner, is a white horse tied to a cart with a person standing on it. The horse and person both face away from us, heading towards the pier. They are passing by a small wooden boat that lies in the sand on their left, connected by a rope to a dark red anchor submerged in the sand. The brushstrokes are smooth and detailed in the sky and sea. The color palette is dominated by pastel tones of beige, blue, and grey. The water is greenish-blue, with darker areas of shadow and light areas in the distance. The sky is blue, full of puffy white clouds that are tinged with light pink.

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Artwork overview

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

John Gibbons [1777-1851], Corbyn's Hall, Staffordshire, and London;[1] by inheritance to his son, the Reverend Benjamin Gibbons [1824-1894], Waresley House and Waresley Court, Worcestershire, and London;[2] (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 26 May 1894, no. 6); purchased by (Thos. Agnew and Sons, Ltd., London) for Sir Charles Clow Tennant, 1st bt. [1823-1906], The Glen, near Innerleithen, Peeblesshire, Scotland; by descent in the family to his great-grandson, Colin Christopher Paget Tennant, 3rd baron Glenconner [1926-2010], The Glen;[3] sold November 1975 through (Thos. Agnew and Sons, Ltd., London) to Mrs. Ruth Carter Stevenson [1923-2013], Fort Worth; bequest to NGA.[4]
[1] Gibbons was an ironmaster and art patron from Edgbaston near Birmingham, and he had a gallery specially built for his collection at his London home, 16 Hanover Terrace, Regent's Park. See: Kathryn Moore Heleniak, "John Gibbons and William Mulready: The Relationship between a Patron and a Painter," The Burlington Magazine 124, no. 948 (March 1982): 136-141.
[2] Rev. Gibbons lent the painting to the 1890 Winter Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London.
[3] The 3rd baron's father, Christopher Grey Tennant, 2nd baron Glenconner (1899-1983), was still living when the painting was sold to NGA's donor, and the 2nd baron would have been the Lord Glenconner who lent the painting to a 1951 exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. However, documents in NGA curatorial files given by the donor all name Colin Tennant as the painting's owner.
[4] At the time of her 1975 purchase of the painting, the NGA donor was married to J. Lee Johnson III. She married Johnson in 1946 and they were divorced in 1978; she married John "Jack" Stevenson in 1983. In 1991 Mrs. Stevenson promised the painting as a bequest to the NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1823

  • British Institution, London, 1823, no. 148.

1890

  • Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters, and by Deceased Masters of the British School; including a collection of drawings and models by Alfred Stevens. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1890, no. 52, as Sea-Piece, with Jetty.

1897

  • Twenty Masterpieces of the English School, Thos. Agnew and Sons, Ltd., London, 1897, no. 3.

1903

  • Exhibition of Works by the Old Masters and Deceased Masters of the British School. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1903, no. 41.

1951

  • The First Hundred Years of the Royal Academy, 1769-1868. Winter Exhibition, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1951-1952, no. 206, as Yarmouth Pier.

1954

  • Dutch Painting and the East Anglian School, Castle Museum, Norwich, 1954, no. 16.

1991

  • Art for the Nation: Gifts in Honor of the 50th Anniversary of the National Gallery of Art, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1991, unnumbered catalogue, color repro.

2009

  • From the Private Collections of Texas: European Art, Ancient to Modern, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 2009-2010.

Bibliography

1902

  • Holmes, Charles John. Constable and His Influence on Landscape Painting. Westminster, 1902: 246.

1937

  • Leslie, Charles Robert, and Andrew Shirley. Memoirs of the life of John Constable, R.A., by C.R. Leslie, R.A., edited and enlarged by the Hon. Andrew Shirley. London, 1937: lxix, 137, 142, pl. 79.

Inscriptions

lower left: John Constable pinxt. 1822.

Wikidata ID

Q46626759

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