The image displays a landscape from a slightly elevated perspective. The horizon line is in the distance where the land meets the sky. Along the horizon, there are a few trees and a small cluster of buildings. The artistic technique employed consists of fine, detailed brushstrokes, characteristic of etching. The color palette is a monochrome range of blacks, whites, and grays. Closest to us, there is a horse-drawn cart with a person steering it, and a dog nearby, on a winding path leading into rolling hills. The path meanders towards the distance where clusters of trees and cultivated land can be seen. Above, the sky is vast and filled with billowing clouds, through which a few birds are soaring.
Read the visual description

The image displays a landscape from a slightly elevated perspective. The horizon line is in the distance where the land meets the sky. Along the horizon, there are a few trees and a small cluster of buildings. The artistic technique employed consists of fine, detailed brushstrokes, characteristic of etching. The color palette is a monochrome range of blacks, whites, and grays. Closest to us, there is a horse-drawn cart with a person steering it, and a dog nearby, on a winding path leading into rolling hills. The path meanders towards the distance where clusters of trees and cultivated land can be seen. Above, the sky is vast and filled with billowing clouds, through which a few birds are soaring.

National Gallery of Art · Print

A Heath

David Lucas after John Constable

Date
1830/1831
Medium
mezzotint in black on wove paper
Dimensions
plate: 17.6 x 22 cm (6 15/16 x 8 11/16 in.) sheet: 27.6 x 42.7 cm (10 7/8 x 16 13/16 in.)
Classification
Print
Accession number
1994.60.42
Credit line
Gift of Ruth B. Benedict
Time span
1826 to 1850
Department
CG-E

Subjects and terms

  • British
  • Landscape
  • United Kingdom
  • landscape
  • Skyscape
  • mezzotint
Provenance

Dr. Ruth B. Benedict (1913-1993), Washington; bequest to NGA, 1994.

Inscription

probably by later hand, lower right in graphite: A Heath Hampstead; by later hand, upper left verso in graphite: 18/18/; by later hand, upper right verso in graphite: w/f; by later hand, lower right verso in graphite: 8 E proof; by later hand, lower left verso in graphite: 7657 (circled)

NGA object ID 79387. 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.