Departing Storm

David Lucas British
After John Constable British

Not on view

View of a country landscape over which departing clouds reveal a rainbow.

In 1827, Constable began work on the project that would occupy his attention until his death seven years later: the publication of a series of prints based on his paintings that would stand as a summary of his achievements. The painter collaborated closely with the engraver David Lucas to create prints that would illustrate Constable's didactic intention—to illustrate the "chiaroscuro of nature." The medium of mezzotint, in which the design is developed from dark to light using a wide range of velvety tones, was eminently suited to the project.

2b is not a proof recognized in the Shirley catalogue raisonné. Rather, the Metropolitan Museum of Art's copy of Shirley contains handwritten notations regarding a second proof.

Departing Storm, David Lucas (British, Geddington Chase, Northamptonshire 1802–1881 London), Mezzotint; proof before published state

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