Summer Idleness
Slide 216 of Genre and landscape studies (miscellaneous: Graystone Bird, 925 slides, in/before 1937)
– alternative version of this slide
Private collection – reproduced by permission.
Digital image copyright © 2025 Lucerna Magic Lantern Web Resource CIC.
photographer: BIRD, Graystone (1862-1943)
(all dimensions are nominal; individual examples of this slide may have varied slightly from these values).
same location as slide 13 of Genre and landscape studies (miscellaneous: Graystone Bird, 925 slides, in/before 1937)
see also slide 255 of Genre and landscape studies (miscellaneous: Graystone Bird, 925 slides, in/before 1937)
The image is photographed from the junction of Water Lane and The Street, Castle Combe, looking away from the village. The house on the left is still standing (2025), now fenced off as a private residence.
The similarities of composition between Bird's photograph and John Constable's famous painting The Hay Wain of 1821 are clear, and very probably deliberate.
Slide 13 of this set shows the same location from the opposite viewpoint, taken from a point in front of the house.
Example in private collection (2025- )
Record created by Richard Crangle. Last updated 9 September 2025
How to cite this record: all the information in Lucerna is freely available for use for any legal non-commercial purpose. If you use any of the information or any images from this page, please credit Lucerna in the following (or an equivalent) style:
Lucerna Magic Lantern Web Resource, lucerna.exeter.ac.uk, item 5158000. Accessed 5 March 2026.
All Lucerna data is published in good faith as the latest known version of the information, but without any guarantee as to its accuracy or completeness. If you can correct or add to our information, or supply any images, please Contact us.
Using images from Lucerna: all the digital images on the Lucerna site are available to use for any legal non-commercial purpose, free of charge, if you acknowledge their source and include any copyright statement as it appears under the image. The images are relatively low-resolution, and not intended for print reproduction or projection. If you need a higher-resolution version of the image(s) on this page, please Contact us to ask about availability.
