About this artwork

Constable drew to record nature and to develop different ideas for landscape compositions. He particularly favoured working with pencil and was able to evoke a remarkable range of tones, marks and expressive effects with the medium. This sketch of the River Avon is one of a group Constable made while staying with his sister-in-law at Bewdley in Worcestershire. A broken barge lies in two sections on the river bank, while a man brings a horse to water beyond. A great copse of trees forms the backdrop. The every day, rustic nature of the scene would have greatly appealed to Constable.

Updated before 2020

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John Constable

John Constable