Page:Constable by C. J. Holmes.djvu/29

 in Burlington House contains A Lock, The Leaping Horse, and sixteen small studies in oil. The National Gallery owns The Cornfield, The Haywain, The Valley Farm, The Cenotaph, The Glebe Farm, and about a dozen smaller works. Several of these were removed in 1897 to the Tate Gallery. In the Print Room of the British Museum there are some well-preserved water-colours, a number of excellent pencil studies, and two specimens of Constable's feeble attempts at etching. On the whole, even Turner is hardly so fully or so favourably represented in our public collections. Except where the contrary is expressly stated, the sketches mentioned in the following pages are to be found at South Kensington.

In the following pages I have attempted to trace Constable's progress by pictures and sketches that are at once representative and accessible. To attempt more would be beside the aim of the present series, and far beyond its scope. Viewed broadly, Constable's painting divides naturally into three periods: 1776-1805, 1806-1826, and from 1827 to the year of his death, 1837. The divisions, especially those between the second and third periods, are marked by no hard-and-fast line, but they are quite clear enough to serve as a base for practical classification. Constable's methods and style varied very greatly with circumstances of time and intention, so that to the inexperienced eye late work will have sometimes the finish and severity of a student, and vice versâ. Nevertheless, upon longer acquaintance, it is quite possible to date a sketch with approximate correctness, so steady is the growth of the artist's technical method and habit of mind. 9