The Stour Valley with the Church of Dedham
A view from the top of Fen lane over the valley towards Dedham.
Constable’s landscapes capture specific locations of the English counties where he lived and worked.
Details
On occasion mistaken as ‘ Dedham Vale Morning’, this piece painted from the grounds of Constable’s neighbours The Godfreys at Old Hall, takes the vantage point on a hill behind the estate and over the valley towards Dedham, with Dedham church in the centre.
This piece commissioned by Thomas Fitzhugh as a wedding present for his bride, Philadelphia Godfrey.
Around this time Constable wrote: ‘This charming season … occupies me entirely in the fields and I believe I have made some landscapes that are better than is usual with me – at least that is the opinion of all here‘
PROVENANCE
1814, commissioned by Thomas Fitzhugh (b. 1770 - d. 1856) for his wife, Philadelphia Godfrey Fitzhugh (d. 1869), Plas Power, Denbighshire, sold by Stephen Thomas Gooden (dealer; b. 1856 - d. 1909), London to Thomas Agnew and Sons, London; September 11, 1897, sold by Agnew to George Jay Gould (b. 1864 - d. 1923), New York. Between about 1904 and 1920 Alice Throckmorton McLean (b. 1886 - d. 1968), New York; about 1948, sold by Alice McLean to John Mitchell (dealer), New York; 1948, sold by John Mitchell to the MFA for $16,250. (Accession Date: March 11, 1948)
Museum of Fine Arts Boston
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