Oil paint on canvas
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
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>
A Windmill near Brighton
Bequeathed by George Salting 1910
animals: birds
architecture
bird - non-specific
Brighton - non-specific
coast
England
England, South East
England, Southern
fence
hill
industrial
landscape
path
places
seascapes and coasts
Sussex - non-specific
Sussex, East
townscapes / man-made features
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
windmill
<p>Though he didn’t like the crowds that flocked to Brighton, Constable found its setting inspiring. Exploring the quiet of the downs behind the town, he discovered a working landscape of windmills, crops and grazing animals. Constable’s composition, with the windmill partially obscured by a mound, gives a good sense of this undulating landscape. It falls away on the right to offer a glimpse of the sea. This sketch was painted on 27 July 1824. He wrote a note about weather conditions on the back: ‘very fine morning after rain’.</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2023</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
10 March 2003 – July 2003
Mar 2003 – July 2003
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-03-10
Broken Ground
Collection based display
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
8 May 2006 – 22 May 2007
2007-05-22
8 May 2006
2006-05-08
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2006-05-08
John Constable
Collection based display
5 August 2010 – 17 April 2012
2012-04-17
5 August 2010 – 17 April 2012
2012-04-17
2010-08-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-08-05
Constable: Sketching from Nature
Collection based display
1 December 2012 – 30 June 2013
2013-06-30
15 December 2012 – 30 June 2013
2013-06-30
2012-12-15
Millennium Gallery (Sheffield, UK)
http://www.sheffieldgalleries.org.uk
2012-12-01
Force of Nature
Loan-out
8 April 2017 – 8 October 2017
2017-10-08
8 April 2017 – 8 October 2017
2017-10-08
2017-04-08
Brighton Museum and Art Gallery (Brighton, UK)
http://www.brighton.virtualmuseum.info
2017-04-08
Constable in Brighton
Loan-out
20 February 2021 – 4 February 2023
2023-02-04
20 February 2021 – 31 May 2021
2021-05-31
2021-02-20
Mitsubishi Ichigokan (Tokyo, Japan)
1 July 2022 – 9 October 2022
2022-10-09
2022-07-01
Villa Vauban (Luxembourg City, Luxembourg)
24 October 2022 – 4 February 2023
2023-02-04
2022-10-24
Reggia di Venaria Reale (Turin, Italy)
2021-02-20
Constable and England: A History of His Affections
Tate partnerships & programmes
13 March 2023
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2023-03-13
Gallery 108
Collection based display
A Windmill near Brighton
support: 203 × 251 mm
frame: 400 × 500 × 80 mm
Bequeathed by George Salting 1910
<div class="text">
<p>Though he didn’t like the crowds that flocked to Brighton, Constable found its setting inspiring. Exploring the quiet of the downs behind the town, he discovered a working landscape of windmills, crops and grazing animals. Constable’s composition, with the windmill partially obscured by a mound, gives a good sense of this undulating landscape. It falls away on the right to offer a glimpse of the sea. This sketch was painted on 27 July 1824. He wrote a note about weather conditions on the back: ‘very fine morning after rain’.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2023-10-25T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<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-a-windmill-near-brighton-n02657" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02657</span></a> <b>A Windmill near Brighton</b> 1824</p>
<p></p>
<p>Oil on canvas, 7 3/8×9 15/16 (20.2×25.1).
<br/>The original stretcher, now replaced, was inscribed in pencil by the artist ‘Brighton. July 27th 1824’ top left, 'Brighton July 27<sup><u>th</u></sup> 1824' top right, and 'very fine morning after rain [...]' bottom right (transcribed before relining 1962; an infra-red photograph of the inscription was also taken). A more recent inscription, on a label, read: ‘Cornfields n<sup>r</sup>
Brighton a very fine morning by J. Constable R.A.’.
<br/><i>Prov:</i> Isabel Constable, according to an old label on the frame; possibly the ‘Mill behind a hill’ which she bequeathed to her nephew Clifford Constable<sup>1</sup> and possibly in his sale, Christie's 23 June 1894(46, ‘A View near Brighton, with cornfield and windmill’), bt. Frickenham £52. 10s.; ...; James Staats Forbes, who died 1904; bt. from his executors by Agnew's March 1905 and sold May 1905 to George Salting, by whom bequeathed to the National Gallery 1910; transferred to the Tate Gallery 1954. <i>Accession </i><span>N02657</span>.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> Agnew's 1910(89).
<br/><i>Lit</i>: Holmes 1910, p.85; Shirley 1937, p.206; Davies 1946, p.37; Chamot 1956, p.262; Beckett 1961, Paintings: Sussex (14) No.47; Hoozee 1979, No.416.
<br/>
<br/>Constable first visited Brighton in May 1824 when he took Maria there for the sake of her health. She remained until November and also spent August 1825–January 1826 there. Constable paid her frequent visits. In addition he went to Brighton for a few days in September 1826 and paid three visits when Maria returned there in 1828. A visit in 1830 is also recorded. Many <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/d/drawing" title="Glossary definition for 'Drawing'"><span>drawings</span></a> and oil sketches were made on these excursions, especially on the early ones, and one 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 a Brighton subject was produced (No.32 below).
<br/>
<br/>Nos 27 and 28 were painted during a visit to Maria which began on 17 July and lasted until October 1824. Other oil studies of windmills made during this period include V.&amp;A., R.268 (3 August) and perhaps R.269 and 272 (H.417, 421, 427).
<br/>
<br/>No.27 was copied in 1843 by Constable's son Alfred. Isabel Constable wrote to her youngest brother, Lionel, on 18 August that year: ‘As you wanted to know what picture Alfa painted for Mr Clayton I have made you a rough sketch of it I daresay you recollect it, it is one of Papa's &amp; was in the drawing room’.<sup>2</sup> Isabel's accompanying pen sketch clearly depicts No.27. Mr Clayton was a family friend, probably F.S.Clayton, the solicitor whom Isabel later appointed her Executor. Alfred's copy of the picture has not been found.
<br/>
<br/>1. A copy of Isabel's will is in the collection of Mrs E. Constable.
<br/>
<br/>2. Unpublished letter, Coll. Mrs E. Constable.</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
animals: birds architecture bird - non-specific Brighton - non-specific coast England England, South East England, Southern fence hill industrial landscape path places seascapes and coasts Sussex, East Sussex - non-specific townscapes / man-made features UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions windmill