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

This view of Harrow from Child’s Hill is part of a series of en plein air sketches executed by Constable on Hampstead Heath between 1820 and 1823. As with others, a large amount of paper is given over to the sky, creating the sense of height and expansive space from being situated at the top of a hill. However, this drawing is further free from the cows, carts and figures found in similar drawings from the series, grounded only by Harrow’s distinctive spire.
Constable started visiting Hampstead in 1819, before relocating full time in 1827. This sketch was made during the family’s first few summers. Much has been written about the detailed cloud formations of the later images, and this drawing is quite unusual for its use of bright shafts of sunshine casting shadows onto the landscape.
John Postle Heseltine (1843-1929) was a stockbroker, who formed an exceptional collection of Old Master and British drawings, as well as Old Master paintings. He gave several pictures to the National Gallery, London, where he was a Trustee, and prints and drawings to the British Museum.