Oil paint on paper on wood
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/john-constable-108" aria-label="More by John Constable" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">John Constable</a>
Dedham Lock
Bequeathed by Henry Vaughan 1900
adults
architecture
bank
boat - non-specific
church
Dedham
England
England, East
Essex
figure
landscape
lock
people
places
religious
river
River Stour
society
townscapes / man-made features
transport: water
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
UK natural features
village
water: inland
wooded
<p>This is one of a small group of sketches of Dedham Lock that Constable made around 1820. Here the view seems to be taken from the upstream end of the lock. No finished painting is known to have resulted from the new studies.</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
paper unique oil paint wood
15 October 2001 – 4 August 2002
2002-08-04
15 October 2001 – 4 August 2002
2002-08-04
2001-10-15
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-10-15
Constable: Outdoor Sketching
Collection based display
10 October 2002 – 13 January 2003
2003-01-13
10 October 2002 – 13 January 2003
2003-01-13
2002-10-10
Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais (Paris, France)
2002-10-10
John Constable
Loan-out
12 May 2003 – 7 May 2006
2006-05-07
12 May 2003 – 7 May 2006
2006-05-07
2003-05-12
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-05-12
Constable 1
Collection based display
3 April 2007 – 16 June 2007
2007-06-16
3 April 2007 – 16 June 2007
2007-06-16
2007-04-03
Salander-O’Reilly Galleries (New York, USA)
http://www.salander.com
2007-04-03
John Constable: 20 Years of Oil Sketches (1809-1829)
Loan-out
5 October 2013 – 5 January 2014
2014-01-05
5 October 2013 – 5 January 2014
2014-01-05
2013-10-05
Turner Contemporary (Margate, UK)
2013-10-05
Capturing British Landscape - Turner
Loan-out
7 February 2015 – 1 March 2020
2020-03-01
7 February 2015 – 1 March 2020
2020-03-01
2015-02-07
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2015-02-07
Constable
Collection based display
11 July 2026 – 4 October 2026
2026-10-04
11 July 2026 – 4 October 2026
2026-10-04
2026-07-11
Christchurch Mansion (Ipswich, UK)
2026-07-11
Constable 250
Loan-out
Dedham Lock
support: 165 × 254 mm
frame: 345 × 433 × 58 mm
Bequeathed by Henry Vaughan 1900
<div class="para3">
<span class="text1">This is one of a small group of sketches </span><span class="text15">of Dedham Lock that Constable made </span><span class="text14">around 1820. Here the view seems to be taken from the upstream end      of the lock.</span><span class="text1"> </span><span class="text15">No      finished <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> is known to have resulted from the new studies.  </span>
</div>

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2004-09-08T00:00:00
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<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/constable-dedham-lock-n01820" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01820</span></a> <b>Dedham Lock</b> 1820s</p>
<p>
<br/>Oil on paper, 6 1/4×10 (16.5×25.4) laid on panel.
<br/>Inscribed on the paper-edging on the back of the panel: ‘Dedham by Constable RA bought July 1870 - This picture [?lately] belonged to Captain Constable, Son of the painter - then to Hogarth - Vaughan’.
<br/><i>Prov:</i> perhaps acquired privately from Charles Golding Constable by the dealer Hogarth, and sold by him to Henry Vaughan in July 1870 (see above); however, if Hogarth acquired the work at auction, it may have been lot 138 in C.G. Constable's sale at Christie's on 9 May 1870, ‘A Sketch in Suffolk’, bt. Wigzell £8. 8s., assuming that Wigzell quickly disposed of it to Hogarth and he to Vaughan;<sup>1</sup>
bequeathed by Vaughan to the National Gallery 1900; transferred to the Tate Gallery 1951. <i>Accession </i><span>N01820</span>.
<br/><i>Lit</i>: Holmes 1902, p.248; Shirley 1937, p.247; Davies 1946, p.32; Chamot 1956, p.260; Beckett 1961, Paintings: Essex (7) No.16; Hoozee 1979, No.258.
<br/>
<br/>The lock gates depicted in No.24 appear to lie at the opposite end of the lock to those shown in No.17 above, i.e. at the south-western or upstream end. The small trees at the left are probably those seen behind the figure operating the gates in No.17. If this is so, the viewpoint adopted for No.24 would be to the right of this figure. An oil sketch in the Johnson Collection at the Philadelphia Museum of Art presents a similar view (Fig. 1, TG 1976 No.138, H.237).<sup>2</sup>
<br/>
<br/>Two related Dedham Lock studies are in the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art: Fig.2 (H.257)<sup>3</sup> and, less certainly authentic, Fig.3 (H.259).<sup>4</sup> Both include a boat similar to the one introduced in the later versions of ‘Dedham Lock and Mill’ (see Fig.4 under No.17 above). Unlike the Philadelphia sketch, No.24 and the two Mellon <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a> are probably studio <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/composition" title="Glossary definition for 'Composition'"><span>compositions</span></a>.
<br/>
<br/>Constable seems to have been contemplating a large <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/canvas" title="Glossary definition for 'Canvas'"><span>canvas</span></a> of the subject but there is no evidence that he ever executed one.
<br/>
<br/>1. An objection here might be that Vaughan was bidding in person at the sale (see No.28 below) and could have bought lot 138 then had he wanted it. Lot 138 appears to be the only work sold at auction by C.G.Constable before July 1870 which could possibly be identified with No.24.
<br/>
<br/>2. Johnson Collection No.863. Oil on canvas, 6 3/4×11 1/2 (15.5×28.6). The tower of Dedham church, barely visible in photographs of the painting, is partly obscured by the left-hand of the two large poplars; the latter are omitted from No.24.
<br/>
<br/>3. Oil on paper laid on board, 4 1/8×6 3/8 (11.5×16.5).
<br/>
<br/>4. Oil on canvas laid on board, 13 1/16×19 1/2 (33.7×49.8).</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Leslie Parris, <i>The Tate Gallery Constable Collection</i>, London 1981
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
adults architecture bank boat - non-specific church Dedham England England, East Essex figure landscape lock people places religious river River Stour society townscapes / man-made features transport: water UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions UK natural features village water: inland wooded