John Constable, R.A. (East Bergholt 1776-1837 Hampstead)

Constable worked relatively infrequently on coloured papers, but examples are found of blues, greys, buffs, sometimes called drabs, and even purple papers amongst his drawings and oil studies on paper. This very opaque sheet is typical of some of the strong wrapping papers that were manufactured in the early 19th Century.

There is a sheet of oil on paper studies of two ploughs dated '2d Novr. 1814' at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London, that was given to the Museum by the artist's daughter, Isabel, in 1888 (Reynolds, op.cit., no. 14.44, pl. 1187). The studies were used for the ploughs see in The Cornfield (Reynolds, op.cit., no. 26.1) and Stoke-by-Nayland (Reynolds, op.cit., no. 36.19).