{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O188692"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O188692/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PJ7562/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PJ7562/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PJ7562","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O188692/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O188692","accessionNumber":"E.258-1990","objectType":"Print","titles":[{"title":"The Lock. Shirley 35, unrecorded final progress proof. 1832 - 1834.","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"David Lucas","id":"A16057"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":"after"},{"name":{"text":"John Constable","id":"A8267"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"F. G. Morn","id":"A24324"},"association":{"text":"publisher","id":"AAT25574"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Thomas McLean","id":"A23367"},"association":{"text":"publisher","id":"AAT25574"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"C. Tilt","id":"A24325"},"association":{"text":"publisher","id":"AAT25574"},"note":""},{"name":{"text":"Rudolph Ackermann","id":"A8076"},"association":{"text":"publisher","id":"AAT25574"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Hodgson & Graves","id":"A36139"},"association":{"text":"publishers","id":"AAT25574"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Mezzotint","categories":[],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2025PJ7562"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"WS","id":"THES49603"},"free":"","case":"EXP","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"print","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Great Britain","id":"x32019"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1832-4","earliest":"1832-01-01","latest":"1834-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"34.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"24.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"sheet","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"69.6","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"52.1","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Exhibitions: Constable in Print, Victoria and Albert Museum, Henry Cole Wing, Level 2, 3 April - 15 September, 1991.\n\nThe original painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy. A mezzotint of it has been previously undertaken by S.W. Reynolds, to whom Lucas was apprenticed from 1820 - 1827, in 1825 but abandoned before completion. It was the first large subject that Lucas tackled, and as with the other five, was embarked on at his own risk under Constable's supervision. This early unrecorded progress proof is considerably darker than the published state, lacks detail throughout and is before the addition of birds in the sky.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Print by David Lucas after John Constable entitled 'The Lock'.  (Shirley 35, unrecorded final progress proof).  Great Britain, 1832 - 1834.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"A. Shirley, The published mezzotints of  David Lucas, after John Constable, R.A.: a catalogue  and historical account, Oxford, 1930."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"[group label with E.766-1991]\r\nLarge prints based on paintings were popular in the early- 19th century. Lucas created six large plates after Constable’s work, including these two mezzotints that Constable referred to as ‘the pair’. Constable worked hard with Lucas to perfect them, although Lucas financed the prints himself and organised their publication with the print seller and publisher, F.G. Moon. The mezzotints achieved both critical acclaim and commercial success, much to Constable’s delight. Nevertheless, Constable and Lucas’s relationship was tested when Constable suspected him and Moon of deceiving him. Close colleagues by this stage, painter and printmaker resolved their differences quickly and continued collaborating until Constable’s death.\n\nFrom John Constable and David Lucas: A Unison of Feeling at V&amp;A South Kensington from 15 November 2025 to 14 June 2026","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}},{"text":"<i>A Lock</i>, 1834\r\nDavid Lucas after John Constable\r\nMezzotint with drypoint, trial proof\r\nUnusually for Constable, the original painting on which this mezzotint is based met with critical success. Constable devoted considerable effort to devising an apt title and dedication for the print and its companion, The Cornfield [E.776-1991]. However, when F.G. Moon published the pair in 1834, he titled each simply, Landscape, dedicating them – under his own name – to the President and Members of the Royal Academy.\n\nFrom <i>John Constable and David Lucas: A Unison of Feeling </i>at V&amp;A South Kensington from 15 November 2025 to 14 June 2026","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["E.258-1990"],"accessionNumberNum":"258","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1990,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-06-17","recordCreationDate":"2009-02-18","availableToBook":false}}