Summer Morning
ca. 1830
Medium
Mezzotint; between states a and b, proof before letters
Dimensions
plate: 6 7/8 x 9 15/16 in. (17.5 x 25.2 cm) sheet: 12 x 17 7/16 in. (30.5 x 44.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1939
Accession Number
39.68.27
Tags
Art Historical Context
" Summer Morning" is a delicate mezzotint print created around 1830 by engraver David Lucas after a design by the celebrated British landscape painter John Constable. Produced as a proof between states a and b, before any lettering was added, this impression captures luminous atmosphere of an English countryside at dawn. Constable, a leading figure of the Romantic movement, was renowned for his innovative approach to depicting natural light, weather, and seasonal change—qualities that mezzotint, with its rich tonal range and velvety textures, was especially suited to convey. The medium itself...
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...