{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O16555"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O16555/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AP8081/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AP8081/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AP8081","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2014GY5225","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BD7291","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KB7995","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O16555/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O16555","accessionNumber":"786-1888","objectType":"Oil painting","titles":[{"title":"Study of the Trunk of an Elm Tree","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"Constable probably painted this remarkable sketch in Hampstead. It is so realistic that it has an almost photographic quality. The artist's friend and biographer C. R. Leslie recalled: 'I have seen him admire a fine tree with an ecstasy of delight like that with which he would catch up a beautiful child in his arms'.","physicalDescription":"Study of an elm tree trunk with a forest scene behind.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Constable, John (RA)","id":"A8267"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"charcoal","id":"AAT12862"},{"text":"white chalk","id":"x39202"}],"techniques":[{"text":"oil painting","id":"AAT178684"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Oil on paper","categories":[{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"}],"styles":[{"text":"British School","id":"x30967"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006AP8081","2014GY5225","2006BD7291","2017KB7995"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"SHLN","id":"THES49063"},"free":"","case":"","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"oil paintings","id":"AAT33799"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1821","earliest":"1816-01-01","latest":"1825-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Isabel Constable","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"306","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"approx.","note":"544 x 499 x 40\t"},{"dimension":"Width","value":"248","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"approx.","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"544","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"frame","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"499","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"frame","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"40","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"frame","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions taken from <i>Catalogue of the Constable Collection</i>, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'JC'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscribed in monogram in ink on back"}],"objectHistory":"Given by Isabel Constable, 1888","historicalContext":"The chief of Constable's four exhibits in 1821 was 'Landscape: Noon' ('The Hay Wain') (National Gallery No. 1207; for the full-scale sketch see No. 209 [987-1900] in this Catalogue).  His third child, Charles Golding Constable, was born on 29 March.  He accompanied Archdeacon John Fisher on his visitation of Berkshire in June, took No. 2 Lower Terrace, Hampstead, for his family during the summer and autumn and paid a visit to Fisher at Salisbury in November.\r\n\r\n [G Reynolds, 1973, p. 135]","briefDescription":"Oil painting, 'Study of the Trunk of an Elm Tree', John Constable, ca. 1821","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"<i>Catalogue of the Constable Collection</i>, Graham Reynolds, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973, pp. 135, 146-147"},{"reference":{"text":"Hoozee, Robert (ed.), <i>British Vision. Observation and Imagination in British Art 1750-1950</i>, Brussels : Mercatorfonds ; Ghent : Museum voor Schone Kunsten, 2007","id":"AUTH354952"},"details":"185","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"p. 134","free":"Shân Lancaster, ed. <i>Constable and Brighton: something out of nothing</i>. London : Scala Arts & Heritage Publishers Ltd, 2017. ISBN: 9781785510694."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"pp. 24-5","free":"Régis Cotentin and Bruno Girveau. <u>La forêt magique</u>. Paris : Réunion des musées nationaux-Grand Palais, 2022. ISBN: 9782711879151"}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"Tree, Elm","id":"x31498"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Label, probably created for Elise load [author unknown]:\r\n\r\n\"At first sight, this study seems astonishingly 'photographic' in its acuity of detail, but closer examination reveals Constable's characteristic devotion to the physicality of oil pigments and paint-brushes.  In particular, the treatment of the bark of the tree results in a tactile quality we usually only experience in the work of artists such as Velasquez and Chardin.  They too were able to invest humble, ordinary subjects with a dignity and splendour.  Constable would be surprised to find himself in such company, but would appreciate our recognition that - in his own words - his art was 'to be found under every hedge and in every lane'. He also wrote that 'the landscape painter must walk in the fields with a humble mind - no arrogant man was ever permitted to see nature in all her beauty'. We might also remember the anecdote Constable's friend and first biographer, Leslie, told: when William Blake saw a drawing of some trees by Constable, he announced 'Why, this is not drawing, but inspiration!'\"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["786-1888"],"accessionNumberNum":"786","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1888,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Reynolds catalogue no.","id":"THES50402"},"number":"235, plate 179"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-04-14","recordCreationDate":"1999-12-15","availableToBook":false}}