{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O74457"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O74457/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AV7716/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AV7716/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AV7716","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AE8011","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KB8486","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O74457/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O74457","accessionNumber":"1628-1888","objectType":"Watercolour","titles":[{"title":"Old Sarum","type":"popular title"}],"summaryDescription":"Constable rarely toured in search of scenes to paint. His works usually show places that he knew well, or visited for reasons other than painting. This watercolour dates from his last visit to his friend John Fisher, who lived in Salisbury, England.\r\nOld Sarum (from the Roman name for Salisbury) had fallen into decay by the 16th century. It was therefore a popular subject with artists who wanted to paint ruined or wild landscapes. These were favourite subjects with artists  during the 'picturesque' period of the late 1700s. They were also popular with artists of the 'Romantic' movement of the early 19th century, when Constable painted this picture.","physicalDescription":"Landscape with clouds, foliage, fields, and a figure and dog in the foreground.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Constable, John (RA)","id":"A8267"},"association":{"text":"artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"black chalk","id":"AAT80058"},{"text":"white chalk","id":"x39202"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Watercolour","categories":[{"text":"Drawings","id":"THES48966"},{"text":"Paintings","id":"THES48917"}],"styles":[{"text":"British School","id":"x30967"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2006AV7716","2006AE8011","2017KB8486"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"WS","id":"THES49603"},"free":"","case":"R","shelf":"31","box":"R"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"watercolour","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"No","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Salisbury","id":"x32495"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":"probably"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"1834","earliest":"1834-01-01","latest":"1834-12-31"},"association":{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Isabel Constable, daughter of the artist","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"555","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"438","unit":"mm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"21 3/4","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"17 1/4","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'J WHATMAN 1830'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"watermark"}],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"'In 1834 Constable exhibited at the Royal Academy three water-colour drawings and a pencil drawing: the former included 'The Mound of the City of Old Sarum, from the south' (No. 359 [1628-1888]) and a view of Stoke Poges Church. He visited George Constable for the first time at Arundel in July and Lord Egremont at Petworth in September.' \r\n                                 \t\r\n[G Reynolds, 1973, p. 215]","briefDescription":"John Constable, Old Sarum, 1834, Reynolds cat. no. 359","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Grey, Anne and John Gage <u>Constable. Impressions of Land, Sea and Sky</u> Canberra: National Gallery of Australia, 2006. ISBN: 0642541566."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Graham Reynolds,  <u>Catalogue of the Constable Collection</u>, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: HMSO, 1973, pp. 215, 216"},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Evans, M., with N. Costaras and C. Richardson, <u>John Constable. Oil Sketches from the Victoria and Albert Museum</u>, London: V&A, 2011, p. 33, fig. 30."},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Timothy Wilcox, <u>Constable and Salisbury. The Soul of Landscape</u> London: Scala Publishers Ltd, 2011. ISBN: 978 1 85759 678 6."},{"reference":{"text":"Concannon, Amy (editor) Tate Gallery (host institution) <u>Turner and Constable : Rivals and Originals</u> London : Tate Publishing, 2025","id":"AUTH413599"},"details":"p. 212","free":"Representing the culmination of Constable’s long association with their subjects and locale, <i>Old Sarum</i> [1628-1888] and <i>Stonehenge</i> [1629-1888] are outstanding examples of his mature watercolour technique. Their expressive skies are reminiscent of those in his oil sketches; indeed the dragging and sweeping of deep purple pigment across the sky in <i>Stonehenge</i> radiates the same energy as <i>Rainstorm over the Sea </i>(no.143). Delicate highlights are created by scratching out to reveal gleaming white paper, such as on the mound of Old Sarum, the original site of Salisbury Cathedral. Keen to avoid Stonehenge appearing like a ‘“stone quarry”’, Constable wrote that any representation of the famous Neolithic earthwork would have to be a ‘poetical one’ (Beckett, V, p.85). Constable achieves this through his choice of angle, which foregrounds the most irregular, tilted and fallen stones, and through the spectacular double rainbow above. As the strip of paper added to the right of <i>Old Sarum</i> makes clear, Constable believed that this scene was not complete without a glimpse of his favoured atmospheric phenomena, the rainbow. "}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Salisbury","id":"x32495"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"landscape","id":"x35496"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"John Constable 1776-1837\r\nOld Sarum\r\nExhibited at the Royal Academy 1834\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nConstable wrote about this abandoned medieval town near Salisbury. 'The present appearance of Old Sarum - wild, desolate, and dreary - contrasts strongly with its former greatness. This proud and \"towered city\", once giving laws to the whole kingdom...can now be traced but by vast embaknments and ditches, tracked by only sheep-walks'.\r\n\r\n\r\nWatercolour with some pen and ink on paper\r\n\r\nBequeated by Isabel Constable, as the gift of Maria Louisa, Isabel and Lionel Bicknell Constable, 1888\r\nMuseum no. 1628-1888","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null}}],"partNumbers":["1628-1888"],"accessionNumberNum":"1628","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1888,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Reynolds catalogue no.","id":"THES50402"},"number":"359, plate 265"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-09-17","recordCreationDate":"2003-02-15","availableToBook":false}}