A Summerland
Medium
Mezzotint; first state of five
Dimensions
Image: 5 7/8 × 8 7/8 in. (14.9 × 22.5 cm) Plate: 7 × 9 7/8 in. (17.8 × 25.1 cm) Sheet: 11 5/8 in. × 17 in. (29.5 × 43.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1943
Accession Number
43.75.16
Tags
Art Historical Context
"A Summerland" is a mezzotint engraving created in 1831 by David Lucas after an original design by the celebrated English landscape painter John Constable. This print belongs to Constable’s ambitious "English Landscape" series, in which he sought to translate the atmospheric effects of his oil paintings into black-and-white prints. As the first of five states, this early impression reveals the rich tonal range that mezzotint can achieve, allowing subtle gradations of light and shadow to evoke the warmth and vitality of a summer day in the English countryside. Constable, a leading figure of th...
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...