Page:Constable by C. J. Holmes.djvu/43

 Stress has already been laid on the sound system of chiaroscuro which underlies all Constable's work. It is not therefore odd that his painting when translated into black and white should become not only more powerful but also more harmonious in effect. Constable in writing to Lucas tells him to "beware of his soot-bag." We ought to be thankful that Lucas used his own discretion in the matter, for owing to judicious simplication of the shadows, and the omission of small spots of light, the prints are broad and majestic in effect, even where the originals suggest mere "great-coat weather." A more critical age will doubtless do Lucas proper justice, and give him his true place among the masters of British Engraving. Constable's share in the credit for the "English Landscape Scenery" may be assessed by a simple experiment. Charles Turner made an excellent little mezzotint of Rembrandt's noble Mill, now in the possession of Lord Lansdowne. If this print be compared with The Weymouth Bay or The Old Sarum, it will be found that all three designs might almost have come from the same hand.

During the last seven years of his life Constable's painting was much interrupted by ill-health, depression, and by the anxieties attending the production of the "English Landscape Scenery." His style of sketching at the beginning of this period can be best understood by reference to several of the smaller works at Kensington. The small study for The Valley Farm deserves special attention for the beauty of its colour, and an air of dignity and repose unusual with the master during his last years. The Study of Tree Stems might almost come from the hand of Manet, so brilliant and natural is the blaze of the sunlight, so frank is the treatment of the cool shadows. The furious sepia studies of buildings and trees at Dedham and Bergholt may also be assigned to this period. The View of Hampstead Heath, which Constable exhibited at the Academy of 1830, is probably identical with the picture in the National Gallery. If it be compared with the Kensington picture of 1828, the continual increase in the use of the palette-knife will be apparent.

In 1831 Constable exhibited one of his masterpieces—Salisbury from the Meadows—so admirably mezzotinted on a large scale by Lucas that no description is necessary. In the following year he showed The Opening of Waterloo Bridge, for which the first sketch had been made more than ten years earlier. No picture 23