Departing Storm
Medium
Mezzotint on chine collé; proof before published state
Dimensions
Image: 2 7/8 × 4 7/16 in. (7.3 × 11.3 cm) Plate: 3 15/16 × 5 1/4 in. (10 × 13.3 cm) Sheet: 11 5/8 × 17 7/16 in. (29.5 × 44.3 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1939
Accession Number
39.68.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
"Departing Storm" (1829) is a striking mezzotint print created by engraver David Lucas after a composition by the renowned British landscape painter John Constable. proof impression, made before the published state with its final lettering, captures Constable's masterful depiction of nature's drama—a receding storm over a windswept landscape, likely featuring women amid the turbulent scene. Produced during the Romantic era, it reflects Constable's obsession with transient atmospheric effects, translating his oil sketches into the velvety tones of mezzotint, a technique Lucas perfected to evoke...
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...