storm approaching) varies in price; the engraver's proof before the addition of the dog sells for four guineas, the same proof after the addition brings only three.
Engraver's trial proofs are interesting, no doubt, but they ought not to be sought after by the collector and lauded above all other proofs. Of course, they are necessarily few in number, and in consequence the moneyed amateur must have them at any cost. But as works of art they are less valuable than the last stage of the print—we mean that stage that the engraver intended to give to the world as a finished result. It would no doubt be interesting if one could peel off the various layers of paint on many a masterpiece and exhibit the picture in the stages of its progress. But it is the picture as it left the artist's easel that is the man's message to posterity. The rough drawings hoarded by collectors are rare and unique. They are invaluable in suggestion to artists, they serve to show the first ideas that grew into shape, but for the ordinary man not a specialist in technique nor a collector determined to run a hobby to death the state issued to the public is good enough.
It should be mentioned that the mezzotints in the series issued in parts by Constable measure 6 in. by 9 in. in size. Lucas at his own risk issued six larger plates from Constable's works (10-3/4 in. by 14 in.), and he also brought out The Cornfield and The Lock (22-3/8 in. by 19-3/8 in.) in 1834. After Constable's death fourteen plates of the smaller size were issued to complete the series he had contemplated.
