The Lock. by John Constable (and David Lucas 1802-1881), 1776-1837

John Constable (and David Lucas 1802-1881), 1776-1837
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The Lock.

Mezzotint in black ink after John Constable. 1832. Absolutely exceptional and brilliant impression from the very earliest edition, published by Lucas in c.1832. Before the first recorded issue published by Moon in 1834.
Ref: Shirley - Mezzotints of David Lucas after constable 35,
Previously unrecorded first completed state, before the engraved strengthening found even in the so-called 1st issue.

Superb and brilliant impression with perfect tonal balance. On pale cream laid india (chine appliqué) on a pale cream stiff wove backing sheet, as issued. Generally exceptionally fine condition; the very faintest suggestion of a mount mark visible in the blank area of the lower
margins. c.2 1/2inch margins. Sheet: 32 7/8 x 25 7/8ins. Plate: 27 1/4 x 20 1/2ins (693x520mm)

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At about the same period as Constable was working with David Lucas on the compositions for the English Landscape Scenery series he also had the idea of making some much larger scale individual compositions. Rather than concentrating mainly on tone and light values in these larger scale works Constable wanted to use the special visual qualities of mezzotint to re-express some of the ideas in his major complete paintings.

The Lock and The Cornfield were the first two of these very large-scale prints. Constable began work on them with Lucas around 1832, and they were both complete sometime between 1832 and 1834. They were very greatly admired from the moment of their completion, and many late reprints were pulled from the plates. However, in the earliest impressions they are absolutely superb examples of the qualities of light and atmosphere that can be created in the medium of mezzotint, and are seminal works in the whole history of British printmaking.

The impression of The Lock , see illustration and details, is an absolutely exceptional and quite amazingly brilliant extremely early impression. The first edition of the mezzotint that was known to Shirley, the cataloguer of the Constable-Lucas prints, is that issued by the professional publisher F. G. Moon for Constable and Lucas in 1834. (See "The Lock" in the pair with "The Cornfield".) This single impression of "The Lock" has a publication line with Lucas's own name as publisher and the date of 1832, the year that Constable and Lucas began work on it. It has absolutely brilliant mezzotint, and it is also before any of the engraved work was added to give the plate more durability, for example on the planking of the boat on the upper lock This work is present in even the earliest of the 1834 Moon impressions (see "The Lock" in the pair with "The Cornfield").

This very first issue by Lucas himself has remained uncatalogued, and examples must be of the very greatest rarity

'The Lock' and 'The Cornfield' A Pair' are a superb example of what was previously thought to be the earliest issue of the pair of the most famous large-scale mezzotints by Constable and Lucas, as issued by F. G. Moon in 1834, and with the 'scratch letter' address lines. The Lock has the engraved work mentioned in the notes above. ,The Cornfield is in its earliest known issued form.

See also notes on Constable in Summer Evening, Seabeach, BrightonandYarmouth, Norfolk