A Mill
Medium
Mezzotint; fourth state of five
Dimensions
Image: 5 9/16 × 8 1/2 in. (14.1 × 21.6 cm) Sheet (trimmed within plate): 7 1/16 × 9 13/16 in. (17.9 × 24.9 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1931
Accession Number
31.58.12
Tags
Art Historical Context
This evocative mezzotint, titled *A Mill*, captures the quiet poetry of the English countryside through the collaborative efforts of painter John Constable and engraver Lucas. Created in 1832, the print belongs to Constable’s celebrated “English Landscape” series, in which he sought to translate his oil paintings into a reproducible medium that could reach a wider audience. The fourth state of five reveals the careful evolution of the image, as Lucas refined the tonal richness to convey the shifting light and atmosphere so central to Constable’s vision. Constable, a leading figure of British ...
About the Artist
David Lucas|John Constable · 1802–1881
**David Lucas (1802–1881)** David Lucas was born in 1802 in Geddington Chase, Northamptonshire, the son of a farmer.) A chance encounter in 1820 led him to become a pupil of the renowned engraver Samuel William Reynolds, under whom he apprenticed in London until 1827, mastering the art of mezzotint engraving.) By 1827, Lucas had published his first mezzotints, showcasing his precocious talent for...