Stoke-by-Neyland

David Lucas

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.

Metropolitan Museum of Art