Igreja de Stoke Poges
1834
John Constable returns to a favorite subject here: the church at Stoke Poges, famous as the setting for Thomas Gray's 'Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.' Notice the huge, battered tree in the foreground—it looks like it's been heavily pruned, adding a sense of age and resilience against the vast, dramatic sky. Constable was obsessed with clouds, and here he uses loose watercolor washes to make the air feel damp and heavy. Painted near the end of his life in 1834, this piece feels like a nostalgic, romantic look back at the English countryside he loved so much.
- Technique
- Watercolor
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