A Sea Beach
Medium
Mezzotint; proof before published state
Dimensions
Image: 5 5/8 × 8 11/16 in. (14.3 × 22.1 cm) Plate: 7 7/16 × 9 15/16 in. (18.9 × 25.2 cm) Sheet: 10 9/16 × 12 1/4 in. (26.8 × 31.1 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1954
Accession Number
54.539.5
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the serene yet dramatic *A Sea Beach* (1830), printmaker David Lucas masterfully translates a composition by the renowned English Romantic painter John Constable into a mezzotint proof. This early impression, captured before the final published state, depicts a windswept seascape with boats dotting the waves, evoking Constable's deep affinity for the natural drama of Britain's coastline. Constable, celebrated for his luminous skies and truthful renderings of light and atmosphere, drew from his native Suffolk beaches, infusing the scene with a sense of untamed beauty and fleeting weather. M...
About the Artist
David Lucas|John Constable · 1802–1881
**David Lucas (1802–1881)** David Lucas was born in 1802 in Geddington Chase, Northamptonshire, the son of a farmer.) A chance encounter in 1820 led him to become a pupil of the renowned engraver Samuel William Reynolds, under whom he apprenticed in London until 1827, mastering the art of mezzotint engraving.) By 1827, Lucas had published his first mezzotints, showcasing his precocious talent for...