Oil paint on paper 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>
Gleaners Brighton
Bequeathed by Henry Vaughan 1900
adults
agriculture and fishing
architecture
Brighton - non-specific
building - non-specific
cloud
England
England, South East
England, Southern
farmland
figure
harvesting
industrial
landscape
people
places
Sussex - non-specific
Sussex, East
townscapes / man-made features
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
weather
windmill
work and occupations
<p>With his back turned to Brighton, Constable captures a blustery sky above the downs that surround the town. Two women, the gleaners, gather wheat ready for milling in the windmills nearby. It was typical of Constable to be so interested in the everyday work that happened on the edges of the fashionable resort. As he often did, Constable wrote the time of day the sketch records on the back: ‘Brighton – Noon, looking N.E. Augst 20, 1824’. Later on, he extended the sketch to include the right-hand windmill and added clouds above the figures of the gleaners.</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2023</em></p>
paper unique oil paint canvas
26 August 2002 – 9 March 2003
2003-03-09
26 August 2002 – 9 March 2003
2003-03-09
2002-08-26
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2002-08-26
Constable
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
5 May 2004 – 25 June 2004
2004-06-25
5 May 2004 – 25 June 2004
2004-06-25
2004-05-05
Salander-O’Reilly Galleries (New York, USA)
http://www.salander.com
2004-05-05
Constable's cloud studies
Loan-out
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
1 September 2011 – 22 April 2012
2012-04-22
1 September 2011 – 22 April 2012
2012-04-22
2011-09-01
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2011-09-01
Skying: Looking at Clouds
Collection based display
14 April 2012 – 27 March 2013
2013-03-27
14 April 2012 – 27 March 2013
2013-03-27
2012-04-14
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-04-14
Constable / Turner
Collection based display
1 January 2014 – 31 March 2014
2014-03-31
1 January 2014 – 31 March 2014
2014-03-31
2014-01-01
National Trust: Petworth House (Petworth, UK)
2014-01-01
Constable at Petworth
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
The Gleaners, Brighton
support: 159 × 302 mm
frame: 295 × 440 × 70 mm
Bequeathed by Henry Vaughan 1900
<div class="text">
<p>With his back turned to Brighton, Constable captures a blustery sky above the downs that surround the town. Two women, the gleaners, gather wheat ready for milling in the windmills nearby. It was typical of Constable to be so interested in the everyday work that happened on the edges of the fashionable resort. As he often did, Constable wrote the time of day the sketch records on the back: ‘Brighton – Noon, looking N.E. Augst 20, 1824’. Later on, he extended the sketch to include the right-hand windmill and added clouds above the figures of the gleaners.</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-the-gleaners-brighton-n01817" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N01817</span></a> <b>The Gleaners, Brighton</b> 1824</p>
<p>
<br/>Oil on paper, laid on canvas, 6 1/8×11 11/16 (15.9×30.2).</p>
<p>Inscribed by Charles Golding Constable on a label on the stretcher ‘John Constable R.A. had written on the back of this “Brighton - Noon, looking N.E. Aug<sup>st</sup> 20, 1824”: (Captain) C. Constable’. ‘(Captain)’ is an addition in another hand.</p>
<p><i>Prov:</i> Charles Golding Constable, sold Christie's 9 May 1870(134, ‘“The Gleaners:” Brighton. <i>Painted on the spot, August</i>
20, 1824’; the remains of the sale stencil are on the stretcher), bt. Henry Vaughan £22. 1s. and bequeathed by him to the National Gallery 1900; transferred to the Tate Gallery 1951. <i>Accession </i><span>N01817</span>.
<br/><i>Engr:</i>
in mezzotint by Sir Frank Short as ‘A Sussex Down’ and published by Dunthorne 1890.
<br/><i>Lit</i>: Holmes 1902, p.246; Shirley 1937, p.181; Davies 1946, p.31; Chamot 1956, p.261; Beckett 1961, Paintings: Sussex (13) No.44; Hoozee 1979, No.419.
<br/>
<br/>Like No.27 above, this study was made during Constable's long stay at Brighton in the summer of 1824. Similar figures of gleaners appear at the left of V.&amp;A., R.269 (Fig. 1, H.421)<sup>1</sup> and in a study formerly with Dr W. Katz and now in a private collection (Fig.2, H.420).<sup>2</sup>
<br/>
<br/>The size of the <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/paper" title="Glossary definition for 'Paper'"><span>paper</span></a> used for No.28 is 6×11 5/8 (15.2×29.9). After laying it down on a larger <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>, Constable seems to have added further clouds at the right, extended the windmill just below them, added clouds above the gleaners and perhaps the gleaners themselves. If these figures were added in the studio, Constable may have taken them from the sketch illustrated in Fig.2.
<br/>
<br/>1. Oil on paper, 6 1/16×9 3/4 (15.6×24.4). On the back is a pencil drawing of Brighton beach with an indistinct date -? ‘Aug 20’ - inscribed at right angles to it. Reynolds suggests that the oil study on the recto may have been made on 20 August 1824, i.e. the same day as No.28.
<br/>
<br/>2. Oil on paper, 5 9/16×4 (14.6×10.2).</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 agriculture and fishing architecture Brighton - non-specific building - non-specific cloud England England, South East England, Southern farmland figure harvesting industrial landscape people places Sussex, East Sussex - non-specific townscapes / man-made features UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions weather windmill work and occupations