Many years ago my father copied a painting for my grandmother, which
he found in a book of English (or perhaps British) landscape
paintings. He cannot remember the title of the book.

The copy of the painting can be seen at:

http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~uclkmjr/painting/painting.jpg

He thought that the original painting was by Constable: the scenery
certainly looks a bit like Dedham. However, we have both been through
every book of Constable paintings we can find (and I have access to
some very big libraries), and there is no sign of it. I was wondering
if it could be by Constable's son, but have not been able to find many
examples of his work.

So the question: who is the artist, and what is the title of the work?

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Request for Question Clarification by boquinha-ga on 14 Sep 2006 14:13 PDT

Hello!

Despite my bachelor's degree in and love of Humanities, I don't
usually answer these kinds of "identify this artist" questions because
the works tend to be quite obscure. However, this one is SO familiar
to me! I have seen this painting! I have spent over 3 hours searching
through my art books and all over the web looking for it and I haven't
been able to locate it. It's driving me crazy! I'm sure I've seen this
painting! It certainly does look like a Constable and I've tried
various other artists as well (Turner, Hobbema, Dahl, Daubigny,
Parsons, Moore, Sisley, Watts, Creswick, Walker, Waite, Lorrain,
Pissaro, and even Renoir), but I'm sorry that I haven't been able to
locate it. What a disappointment. I hope that another researcher can
locate it so I can know who painted it, too!

Sincerely,
Boquinha-ga

Dear mjrmjr-ga,

The title of the painting is Harnham Church, near Salisbury, 1820 (oil
on paper laid on board) by John Constable (1776-1837).

To see a copy of it, go to the Bridgeman Art Library,
http://www.bridgeman.co.uk/index.asp

Click> Advanced Search
In Image ID type>  199306
Click> Search

A thumbnail of the picture will appear. Click on that image to see a
slightly larger image.

This one of many pictures Constable painted in the Salisbury area. 

I must say that even if you had not said Constable, I would have
immediately thought that it was a copy of Constable paining.

I hope this answers your question. If it does not, or the answer is
unclear, then please ask for clarification of this research before
rating the answer. I shall respond to the clarification request as
soon as I receive it.
Thank you
answerfinder

Search strategy
Existing bookmark.
Searched for Constable and Church.

(Hope this puts boquinha-ga out of their misery!)

Fantastic - a quick answer, with all the details that I was after, and
at last an answer to a question that has foxed us for months! Thanks a
million...