FINAL THOUGHTS ON CONSTABLE IN CONTEXT by Volunteer Alan Crooks

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Aspire, Salisbury, Visitors, Volunteers

One of the great pleasures and benefits of volunteering in the museum is the amount one learns (or not!) from the visiting public.

Following on from my previous blog on ‘Constable’s Wagon’ (17^th January) I accessed the website for the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) at the University of Reading, which has photographs of various county farm carts.

This does show a ‘Wiltshire cart’ which has broad similarities to the wagon in Constable’s ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows 1831’, in that the front wheels are smaller than the rear, and the structure curves over the front and rear wheels. However, as can be seen from the illustration below, the curve is nowhere near as pronounced as depicted by Constable:

A visitor suggested that perhaps commentators have ‘got it wrong’ in referring to it as a ‘Wiltshire wagon’ and that it is really a Suffolk wagon – Constable’s home county. However, the illustration of a Suffolk wagon on the MERL website is quite dissimilar:

Thus, I do believe that Timothy Wilcox was partially correct in his  book/catalogue ‘Constable and Salisbury, The Soul of Landscape’ (p152) in which he implies that Constable used artistic licence in the appearance of the wagon, to allow the eye to follow through the curves in the painting. However, we now know from Professor John E. Thornes lecture on ‘A Reassessment of the Solar Geometry of Constable’s Rainbow’ that this was not to predict/preempt  the spectacular appearance of the rainbow, as the rainbow was only painted in a year after the painting was first exhibited at the Royal Academy; in order to mark the death of his great friend, Archdeacon John Fisher.

The most common reaction of visitors entering Gallery 2 (containing Constable’s great painting) was to stand stock still at the entrance and exclaim “Wow!”

Many visitors commented on how privileged they had been to be able to view this painting, on its own on the wall (in contrast to the situation when it goes to The Tate Gallery, when it could just become ‘one of many’) and in the absence of a large crowd. I certainly feel very privileged as an Engagement Volunteer to be in the presence of this great painting for 1.5 hours every week, and to share the joy of all our visitors.

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MORE VISITORS’ COMMENTS shared by Volunteer Alan Crooks

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Visitors, Volunteering

Alan Crooks – continuing the thought that “one of the great pleasures and benefits of volunteering in the museum is the amount one learns (or not!) from the visiting public” (see previous blog)…

Another visitor who had been a member of staff at Godolphin School, contemplating Methuen’s ‘The City and Cathedral of Salisbury as seen from Harnham Hill’ (1955)  commented that Godolphin School has a Methuen House (which “always lost all the sporting events”). He said he had quizzed many of his colleagues, including some of long-standing, and was surprised that so few of them knew why Methuen House was so-named. Sadly, I was distracted away before he could enlighten me. However, a little research revealed that Field Marshal The Lord Methuen GCB, GCMG, GCVO, Legion d’Honneur (The 3^rd Baron Methuen) was elected Chairman of the Governing Body of Godolphin School, Salisbury on June 10, 1913. This link will take you to a blog which describes his interest in education, his love of books and his knowledge of music.

Another visitor stood in front of Claude Buckle’s railway poster, ‘Salisbury: Where History Begins’ commemorating the visit of Charles II in 1651. He swore blind that Buckle had got the date wrong as Charles II “didn’t ascend the throne until 1660”. I had to go home and quickly check an encyclopaedia to find that Charles II had ascended the throne of Scotland in 1651, and so had visited Salisbury that same year. He issued the Declaration of Breda in 1660 in which he stated the terms on which he accepted the crown of England.

Goodbye Old Friend

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Aspire, Salisbury

Millions of pounds left the museum yesterday.  More importantly, we lost an old friend. John Constable’s Salisbury  Cathedral from the Meadows 1831 , with us since September of last year, has gone.

What an epic painting, one which we have been privileged to come to know so well.  And what a very good exhibition of Salisbury museum’s own paintings we had to go with it.

The exhibition attracted more and more visitors as time went by and word got out. If you missed the painting, it has now gone to the Scottish National Gallery…

Constable’s Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows 1831 came to us courtesy of Aspire, supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Art Fund.

Well Worth A Look

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News, Salisbury, YouTube

From our website this week.  Well worth a look…

Back in September 2016 we announced a Rainbow Photographic Competition, inviting photographers to capture a rainbow over the skies of Salisbury. This was inspired by John Constable’s painting ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’ on display at the museum. We are thrilled to announce the prize winners are First – Martin Cook, Second – Marie Jones and Third – Alan Clarke. Here is Martin’s award-winning image. Thanks also to the Salisbury Branch of London Camera Exchange, who donated the prizes. The winning photographs will go on display at the museum soon. See all the entries on YouTube https://youtu.be/Z8DXRnzOtwg

Another Farewell – to Nicola…

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Aspire, Museum, Salisbury

February 28^th marks my last day as Salisbury Museum’s Aspire Trainee – I am not quite sure where the last seven months have gone!

In July 2016, I entered into the role remarkably naïve to the phenomenal hard work put in by all those at the Museum. Since then, I have learned how to produce exhibition and learning content, discovered hugely obscure facts about John Constable, aided in delivering school workshops, given a speech to 30 heritage professionals, produced trails, helped market a major exhibition, shadowed at Tate Britain, helped to construct (and carry!) a LEGO masterpiece – and those were just some of the highlights.

Having always been fascinated by the role of museums and heritage, particularly at university, I knew that I wanted to work in such an environment. However, after graduating I soon realised the difficulties that young people face gaining experience (especially paid) in these types of roles. I have been incredibly fortunate to have been given the opportunity by the museum and the Aspire Project to develop the skills needed to propel myself into a heritage career; an experience I will endeavour not to let go to waste. Nevertheless, I am very aware that these opportunities are few and far between, which is why I believe partnerships such as Aspire are so very important to the future of heritage. I would like to give my thanks to all those on the Aspire project for all their hard work.

A massive thank you to all at Salisbury Museum, particularly to those I have worked closely with and who have taught me so much during my traineeship. A special thank you most of all to Joyce (Paeson) – for all the exhibition help and advice, for sharing her office and for constantly providing me with a supply of much-needed support and coffee.

It has been a pleasure to work alongside all the staff and volunteers at the museum and to be part of such an incredible and worthwhile partnership. I wish the museum and you all a wonderful and prosperous future. I will miss working within this role a great deal (I can’t promise that I won’t pop in to visit every now and again). I will also be leaving my Reception role at the end of April, having spent nearly two years as part of the Visitor Service Team it will be hard to say goodbye!

Now, to put this training to good use and turn my attention to the next adventure….

Best wishes, Nicola

And our best wishes go with you Nicola…

 

The Water Meadows

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Aspire, Museum, Salisbury

After over one hundred Members, volunteers and friends of the museum  attended  a guided walk over the meadows recently, Dr Hadrian Cook – teacher, lecturer, researcher, writer and long-time associate of the Harnham Water Meadows Trust – gave  a fascinating talk on it all at the museum last week.

Again, about a hundred attended, and it was yet another of those wonderful lectures when you knew the speaker could have talked, and the audience happily listened, for hours. The history of the meadows, set against the changing fortunes and requirements of agriculture over the ages, was interesting, of course, but, to those of us with limited background in science, that side of it was a revelation. The late medieval and early modern farmer would not have considered himself a scientist but he obviously knew his land, and nature, and made maximum use of the meadows. Dr Cook explained that, in the end, here in Salisbury, the sheep, grazed on the meadow, were little more than a mechanism for ensuring the arable fields on the sides of the hills were kept manured (see earlier blog for how that worked out). They had long since ceased to be important for their wool, or even of much importance, in the greater scheme of things, for their meat.

It was also interesting to learn a little about the engineering involved in making sure that the flooding of the meadows worked as it was intended to do. It was nothing so simple as just digging a few ditches. The intricate arrangement of leats – top carriers and carriers, all at the right levels – hatches (to control flow) and drains must have been something learned by the locals over time. It had to work properly, or the grass would just rot if left wet. Then there were causeways and sometimes aqueducts to build too!

It was the advent of artificial fertilizers that contributed to the end of water meadows. What have we lost…?

  

An Update on the Lego

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Aspire, Museum, News, Salisbury Cathedral, Visitors, Volunteers

Wow! It was a truly amazing day at the museum last week.

We had over 705 visitors, picking up 65,280 bits of LEGO and putting them onto 1,020 LEGO tiles. In exactly six hours we made a complete LEGO version of Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows. This is now on display in the Main Exhibition Galleries, opposite the real thing. The plan is for the work to stay there until the end of the month, when it will go on display in Salisbury Library.

Thank you to all involved

Painting by…..

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Aspire, Children's activities, Museum, News, Salisbury, Salisbury Cathedral

…numbers? No – these are LEGO bricks! In this, the museum’s second collaboration with the family-owned Danish company LEGO, John Constable’s fabulous painting, Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831) is coming to life today as a brick by brick construction. This is part of the museum’s Aspire programme of activities ( Aspire is the programme which has brought the painting to Salisbury and is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and Art Fund ) which continue until March when the painting moves on.

Volunteer Catherine O’Sullivan looks on as the youngsters admire their handiwork!

A lot of Volunteers are assisting with this epic undertaking today. Thank you!

CONSTABLE’S WAGON by Volunteer Alan Crooks

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Salisbury, volunteer

A common question from visitors to the ‘Constable in Context’ exhibition concerns the wagon which is a prominent feature in ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’. Its unusual design prompts the question, what was it used for?

Visitors have speculated that, due to the proximity of Fisherton brickworks, it may have been used for transporting bricks. However, one would think that a more obvious shape for this purpose would be square, much more like Constable’s haywain. A more plausible use was suggested by one of our volunteers, who thought that it may have been used for transporting cut reeds from the river.

The accompanying exhibition notes describe it either as a ‘typical Wiltshire wagon’ or as a ‘local cart’. In view of this, I contacted the Breamore House and Countryside Museum and received the following reply from Michael Hulse:

“I am afraid we do not have a cart like the one in Constable’s painting and have never seen a similar one. Although it is possible it is a local cart I do not believe it should be described as “a typical Wiltshire cart”.

However, a pencil and wash drawing of this pub by W. Bothams (Plate 6 in ‘Endless Street’, John Chandler, 1983) shows that this wagon is of a completely different type to that depicted by Constable.However, in Timothy Wilcox’s catalogue, ‘Constable in Salisbury’ on p152, it says, “The wagon… was also a common sight here… . Its everyday presence is underlined by the name of the nearest pub, on Fisherton Road (sic), backing on to this stretch of the river, the Wagon and Horses”.

Indeed, the wagon shown on the inn sign seems to be more like the covered wagon being driven by Mrs Ridout in the painting of ‘Mrs Ridout and the Coombe Express (Salisbury Museum).

So, it’s probable that, rather than being connected with Constable’s ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’, as suggested by Wilcox, the Wagon and Horses inn was really just one of several inns used for accommodation by carriers and their horses, and as a safe repository for their laden carts.

It seems to me more likely that the wagon in ‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’ is an invention of Constable’s own, created for artistic licence. Thus, elsewhere in the catalogue, ‘Constable and Salisbury’, (p152), Wilcox writes, “Changes to appearance of the wagon, given a local form with a high enclosed rear end, introduce more prominent curves; it is as if the masterstroke of the rainbow is predicted before it makes its spectacular appearance.

Useful Dates

Fisherton Brickworks. 1706-1903

‘Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows’, Constable. 1831

Photo of Wagon and Horses Inn. <1870

‘Mrs Ridout and the Coombe Express’, Brooks. 1878

 

The Rainbow

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Aspire, Museum, Salisbury

A cold and windy evening last Thursday did not deter good numbers from turning out to hear a talk by Professor John Thornes about the rainbow in John Constable’s wonderful Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows. And the questions from the floor at the end – from who it was that discovered the colours of the rainbow (Newton) to why the rainbow isn’t reflected in the river (they don’t reflect apparently) – confirmed the fascination of the audience in what Professor Thornes had to say.

It is pretty well known that the rainbow was added sometime after the original painting was declared complete, and that the rainbow ends, in the painting, at Leadenhall, the home of Constable’s great friend, Fisher. It is also well known that it was likely added to the painting to mark his friend’s death. What most of us didn’t know, and it literally had the audience catching its breath, was that the height and position of the rainbow is such that it was accurately depicted by Constable as how a rainbow would have appeared on the afternoon of the day of Fisher’s death in August 1832. Which is why it didn’t look right in the context of the painting to John Thornes, who is Emeritus Professor, Birmingham University School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences. Is the position of the rainbow just coincidence? Or more?

It transpires that Constable was something of a scientist as well as an artist and had spent the early 1820s painting nothing but clouds and recording the weather on the back of many such paintings. He also had friends who were developing the science of meteorology and it is likely that he was able to work out what sort of rainbow ( height, position, etc ) would have appeared on the day of his friend’s death. Because a rainbow is created from the position of the sun on the rain in front of the viewer, any depiction of a rainbow can be dated (by those who understand the solar geometry!).

If you want to know more, you might try tracking down Prof Thorne’s book, John Constable’s Skies, published in 1999… Fascinating. And I shall be going in to the museum to look at that painting again!