A lovely painting of a windswept beach. The wide open sky with clouds gives a sense of space
I love this painting because of the stripped Tablecloth. The Lines give the painting a extra edge and with the meal on the table give the whole painting a satisfying feel.
The main Light source though comming from the unobseverd window is refleted from the floor.
I Love this painting and it is one of my favorites....from the objects on the table to the open door and the view outside, to the use of warm colours .
You just want to be there.
Yet in 1966, this modest work caused a scandal. A routine x-ray of the work had revealed a drawing of sections of the London Tube map under Constable's brushwork. Indeed the very painting's composition is based on it and is clearly visible on the horizon (Central Line), the double rainbow (Piccadilly and Northern Lines), and the foreground (Victoria and Northern Lines).
The work was quickly removed, and it was decided that its official copy was in fact the original. During World War II, the British Government had implemented a policy of making copies of all major works in the public collections, so that the copies could be safely kept on exhibition to maintain public morale, in spite of air-raids, while the real works were kept safely in Wales, and only changed back once peace was established. Many of the great war artists such as Spencer, Nash and Sutherland were involved in producing these copies (and the influence shows clearly in their post-war work). This particular work was copied by Oliver Monklay, already employed as a restorer at the Tate, but noted as a skilled copyist.
A interesting tale but original Constabel
There was certainly ample precedent for thus endowing the rainbow with sacred meaning, and therefore the difficulties we encounter with these paintings by Linnell and Grimshaw do not arise in any eccentric personal symbolism, such as one comes upon in the works of Blake and Friedrich. A long tradition had made the rainbow a commonplace symbol of peace, hope, and grace not only in scriptural exegetics but also in pictorial and literary iconography as well. The source of this iconographical tradition is Genesis, which explicitly makes this optical phenomenon a divinely instituted covenant-sign: [158/159]
Rainbow Review more will follow
