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This painting shows a seascape with a tall sailboat visible on the left. The horizon is low in the image, creating a vast sky. In the distance on the right, there is a faint outline of another sailboat. The color scheme is soft, including shades of blue along and the beige of the underlying paper showing through. The sky has soft, rolling clouds, and the green-blue sea shows gentle waves. The brushstrokes in the painting are loose and visible.
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This painting shows a seascape with a tall sailboat visible on the left. The horizon is low in the image, creating a vast sky. In the distance on the right, there is a faint outline of another sailboat. The color scheme is soft, including shades of blue along and the beige of the underlying paper showing through. The sky has soft, rolling clouds, and the green-blue sea shows gentle waves. The brushstrokes in the painting are loose and visible.

National Gallery of Art · Drawing

A Seascape with Two Sail Boats

John Constable

Medium
watercolor and graphite (in the sailboat at left) on beige laid paper
Dimensions
sheet: 11.4 x 18 cm (4 1/2 x 7 1/16 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Accession number
2009.70.99
Credit line
Joseph F. McCrindle Collection
Time span
1776 to 1800
Department
CG-E
Original NGA record Wikidata

Subjects and terms

  • Romantic
  • Water
  • Boat
  • Sea
  • Sky
  • Cloud
Provenance

(Spink & Son, Ltd., London). Joseph F. McCrindle [1923-2008], New York; Joseph F. McCrindle Foundation, 2008; gift to NGA, 2009.

Inscription

by later hand, along top verso in graphite: ... (see similar drawings in [inscription is cut off by hinges]

Watermarks

crown?

NGA object ID 143835. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.