John Constable

John Constable Photo

British Painter

John Constable

Summary of John Constable

Along with J. M. W. Turner , Constable revolutionized landscape painting of the 19 th century and his paintings had a profound and far-reaching effect on European art, particularly in France. Constable moved away from the highly idealized landscapes that were the expected norm of the period and instead favored realistic depictions of the natural world created through close observation. Constable is most clearly remembered for his bucolic images painted in and around the Stour Valley but he also produced over 100 portraits and a huge number of preparatory sketches often completed in oil. In these he experimented with a freer style of representation and this allowed him to capture the effects of elemental change on the countryside with a spontaneity which he was then able to transfer to his finished works. Although his sketches are considerably more impressionistic and less detailed than his display canvases his overall aim remained the same regardless of medium and technique - to depict the scenery that he saw in a truthful and realistic manner.

Accomplishments

  • Constable was a pioneering advocate of realistic depictions of the natural world. He rejected contemporary styles of landscape painting stating that "The great vice of the present day is bravura , an attempt to do something beyond the truth". Instead he created his own distinct manner of representation based on transferring what he saw as truthfully as possible to a canvas.
  • He was fascinated by changing patterns of clouds, weather and light and he sought to capture these moments in his oil sketches. He worked with large, loose brushstrokes to create expressive representations which depicted an overall sense of what he saw rather than fine details. His sketches can be seen as an early precursor to the work of the Impressionists thirty years later.
  • Even in his completed work, Constable abandoned the traditional invisible brushstrokes that were expectations of Academic art of the period. Instead he applied paint in a range of ways including with a palette knife giving his canvases a textured and imperfect finish which served to enhance their realism.
  • Constable also utilized color more widely than was the norm, reflecting the hues he found in nature. He is particularly known for his unique addition of pure white highlights which served to represent the sparkle of light on water.

Important Art by John Constable

Dedham Vale (1802)

Dedham Vale

This was one of Constable's first major paintings, created when he was 26. Painted in the brief hiatus between the end of the French revolutionary wars and the beginning of the Napoleonic wars the following year, the tranquillity of the image belies the wider political turmoil. Whilst the techniques that were to serve Constable so well in his later career are not yet fully developed the painting already demonstrates his commitment to the close observation of nature and this can be seen in the detailed rendering of the trees and sky. The eye is led across the painting from the foreground along the route of the river to the distant tower of Dedham church, which although small, forms a clear focal point for the painting. The trees on either side of the canvas form a frame to the central part of the image presenting the view in the form of a smaller cameo and further serves to focus the eye on a building that would have been a landmark of Constable's childhood. The composition with the trees in the foreground framing the image to the right closely mirrors the arrangement of Lorrain's work Hagar and the Angel (1646) and it is likely that Constable was inspired by the piece that played a formative role in his early art appreciation and education. 26 years later Constable created a second image of the same view called The Vale of Dedham (1828), although very similar in appearance there are a number of small differences that separate the two, particularly the inclusion of figures in the later painting.

oil on canvas - Victoria & Albert Museum, London

Maria Bicknell (1816)

Maria Bicknell

Painted in July 1816 around three months before their marriage, Constable kept this portrait of his fiancée with him, writing to her that "I would not be without your portrait for the world the sight of it soon calms my spirit under all trouble and it is always the first thing I see in the morning and the last at night". The portrait was said to be a remarkably good likeness and the fine and detailed finish of Maria's face contrasts with the looser brushstrokes which make up the background and her blouse. Whilst Constable created over 100 portraits in his career, most were painted out of financial necessity rather than a love of the genre. Despite this, many are refreshingly honest in their depictions and there is a real sense of character and personality in the images that he created and he did not sanitize quirks of appearance to bring images in line with contemporary beauty standards. This portrait has a particular sensitivity and warmth to it and this must be attributed to his intimate relationship with the sitter. Parallels can be drawn between this image and many of his other portraits both in the use of similarly colored, neutral backgrounds and the composition of the sitters. His representation of faces was always closely detailed but his approach to the sitter's clothes seems to vary with his relationship to the individual concerned. Some garments are closely rendered whilst others are suggested through much freer brushstrokes as in this portrait, this can be attributed to the commission basis of his work and paintings for patrons were likely to be more highly finished.

oil on canvas - Collection of the Tate, United Kingdom

The White Horse (1819)

The White Horse

The White Horse, originally titled A Scene on the River Stour was the first of Constable's large canvases (6'x4') known as the six-footers. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1819 and its critical success paved the way for Constable to be elected with the title of an Associate the same year. To create canvases of this magnitude, Constable first made sketches of the scene from life, unusually he then crafted these into a full-size oil sketch before creating the final painting. In the image Constable depicts a normal scene of rural life, neither pitying or celebrating the working lives of those he painted, merely presenting them as he saw them. There is an underlying tenacity to the image, both in the figures of the bargemen straining against their poles but also in that Constable shows the men continuing a centuries old way of life despite the increasing threat of industrialization. The determination of the workers is reflected in the image of the tree to the right of centre clinging precariously but successfully to the waterlogged bank. In the image, as with much of Constable's work, the vegetation is presented in scientific detail with each species clearly identifiable from its differing shape, color, and area of growth. Constable used a huge palette of different greens in his works and this delineation of species is particularly prominent in this painting giving the image a verdancy which reflects the season and time of day.

oil on canvas - The Frick Collection, New York

The Hay Wain (1821)

The Hay Wain

The Hay Wain is now one of the most celebrated and widely known of Constable's works, although when it was first exhibited it was considered unremarkable. In it he depicts the River Stour which divides the Counties of Suffolk and Essex. Willy Lott's cottage stands to the left of the image and this building is also visible on The White Horse (1819). It is possible that the cart is standing in the water to ensure that the wooden wheels didn't shrink in the sun, loosening their metal rims. The image radiates optimism and serenity and this is conveyed through the color palette. The blue of the sky is reflected in the cool tones of the water and the terracotta of the house is highlighted in the red of the horse's harness. The whole image is framed by the greens and yellows of the vegetation and the meadow runs off the right of the canvas opening up the space to the viewer. The curve of the river in the foreground draws the eye away from the mass of the trees towards the Hay Wain itself which becomes the focal point of the image. Constable utilizes his distinctive flecks of white paint on the water in the foreground to portray the effects of the noon sunshine reflecting on the river. Constable has constructed the painting so that the viewer stands on the near bank of the river and the size of the image (it was another six-footer) in conjunction with the carefully rendered fall of light enables the viewer to feel that they could enter the scene. The image highlights the glory of nature without resorting to artifice or exaggeration and reflects Constable's determination to paint the truth of what he saw. In doing this the scene is presented with an absolute sincerity which is immediately apparent to the viewer.

oil on canvas - The National Gallery, London

Rainstorm over the sea (c. 1824-28)

Rainstorm over the sea

After 1822 Constable moved away from strict documentary accuracy and his paint surfaces become rougher and more expressive. This oil sketch of Brighton Beach is a quickly painted image that captures the turbulent feel of the advancing storm rather than a detailed study. Whilst the sky and sea are less closely rendered than in his display canvases the scene is easily identifiable and it is clear that it represents a single moment in time as the storm converges. In appearance and subject matter it can be compared to work by Turner such as Steamer in a Snowstorm (1842) in which the impact of the elements is the focus of the image. The image demonstrates Constable's skill at portraying the effects of changes in weather, light, and time of day. The impact that this image and others like it had on later artists is noted by the painter's biographer Mark Evans in John Constable - The Making of a Master , in which he states that Constable's "oil sketches have been celebrated since the 1890s as precursors of Impressionism, modernism and photographic composition". Although Constable never intended to exhibit his sketches, producing them for his own study and the development of more 'finished' canvases, they make up an important part of his body of work. They are now considered some of his most 'modern' and interesting pieces in that they made an even more radical and pioneering break from the traditions of academic art than the paintings he did display.

Oil on paper laid on canvas - The Royal Academy of Arts, London

Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831)

Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows

Constable started painting Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows shortly after the death of his wife and, although exhibited in 1831, he continued to work on it until his death in 1837. The image is the last of his large six foot canvases and Constable believed that one day it would probably be considered his greatest picture. The image is reflective of the turmoil Constable felt in this period of mourning and this is seen in the religious subject matter, the violent sky and the addition of the rainbow which would be a meteorological impossibility given the other weather conditions. The image of the rainbow appears in several of Constable's other paintings including Landscape with a Double Rainbow (1821) and Stonehenge (1835) and it was generally used as a symbol of hope within the Romantic movement as a phenomenon that was both beautiful and fleeting. Constable himself wrote that "Nature in all the varied aspects of her beauty exhibits no feature more lovely nor any that awakens a more soothing reflection than the rainbow". In this instance the rainbow is considered to be a signifier of spiritual hope - it reaches the ground at Leadenhall the home of Bishop John Fisher who encouraged Constable to paint the scene and it may also indicate gratitude towards his friend for his support in the aftermath of his wife's death. The inclusion of the rainbow marks a departure in Constable's attempts for realism and this is articulated by contemporary critic, Mark Hudson when he states that, Constable "heightens the drama in the blustery sky, throwing a rainbow over the image in a mystical fusing of past and present that belies the sense of Constable as a mere dour observer of empirical reality." Former Tate curator Leslie Parris has suggested that this symbolism may be taken further and that the storm clouds over the Cathedral represent the troubles experienced by the Anglican Church following the Roman Catholic Relief Act of 1829.

Oil on canvas - Collection of the Tate, United Kingdom

Biography of John Constable

Born in East Bergholt, a village in Suffolk, England, John Constable was the second son of Golding and Ann (née Watts), wealthy corn merchants who owned Flatford Mill in East Bergholt and later Dedham Mill in Essex. Constable's older brother (also called Golding) was subject to seizures and was considered unfit to succeed his father into the family business. The task consequently fell to John and after leaving his school in Dedham, Constable joined his father in the corn business, a role for which he had limited enthusiasm and aptitude. Despite his disability Golding Jnr went onto to become a land warden and the two brothers remained close throughout their lives. Constable had five siblings in total, three sisters and another brother, Abram, who was the youngest member of the family.

In his youth Constable travelled the countryside surrounding his home on sketching trips, these landscapes later became a focus for much of his art. As he recalled later in life, "I associate my careless boyhood with all that lies on the banks of the Stour; those scenes made me a painter." His family introduced him to Sir George Beaumont, a collector, who showed him Hagar and the Angel (1646) by Claude Lorrain which was an early inspiration for him. Although his interest in art was encouraged by John Thomas Smith, an artist and friend of the family, he was strongly advised by him to stay in his father's business rather than take up painting professionally.

Early Training

Constable's Self-Portrait (1806)

In 1799, after having worked in the corn business for seven years, Constable persuaded his father to let him pursue a career as an artist. He was given a small allowance and entered the Royal Academy Schools where he studied life drawing and became familiar with the works of the Old Masters . On completion of his training he refused the position of drawing master at Great Marlow Military School, resolving instead to become a professional landscape painter. In a letter to John Dunthorne he wrote 'For the last two years... I have not endeavoured to represent nature with the same elevation of mind with which I set out... There is room enough for a natural painter.' He started exhibiting at the Royal Academy from 1802.

Apart from a two-month tour of the Lake District in 1806, Constable established a pattern of spending his summers sketching and painting around East Bergholt and then returning to London in the winter. Unable to find buyers or commissions for his landscapes, he turned to portraiture to supplement his meagre income, and although he produced a number of fine portraits he found the process dull compared to the pleasure he took in landscape painting.

In 1811 Constable visited Bishop John Fisher and his family in Salisbury, the two had initially met when Fisher was Rector of Langham Church in Essex which was close to East Bergholt. Bishop Fisher became one of Constable's biggest patrons and Salisbury inspired some of his greatest works. The Bishop also introduced Constable to his nephew, Reverend John Fisher and the two developed a life-long friendship.

Mature Period

In 1809 Constable proposed to Maria Bicknell who he had first met when she was twelve. Her grandfather, however, forbade the match and threatened Maria with disinheritance, believing the Constable family to be socially inferior. Unable to support a wife and family on his limited income, the couple maintained a secret correspondence but were not able to marry until after the death of Constable's father in 1816. John Senior left provision for each of his children and Constable's brother Abram continued to run the business for the benefit of the whole family. Although not making Constable wealthy, this finally provided the necessary financial stability for marriage. The couple were wed at the Church of St Martin in the Fields in London and spent their honeymoon with Bishop Fisher and his wife in Osmington, Dorset, followed by a tour of the south coast of England. It was sketching the sea at Brighton and Weymouth on this trip that encouraged Constable to adopt a freer brushwork and to experiment with showing greater emotional intensity in his work, particularly in his rendition of the sky and sea. After the honeymoon, Constable returned to London initially setting up house with his new wife in Bloomsbury, before they moved to Hampstead in 1819.

john constable biography

Constable continued to scrape an income as a painter, although matters improved in 1819 when he sold his first important work, The White Horse (1819), this was a large-scale canvas, known as a six-footer. The same year he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy.

In 1821 he exhibited The Hay Wain (1821) at the Royal Academy. It was shown again, along with two other of his paintings, at the Paris Salon of 1824, where it was awarded a gold medal from Charles X. Although more successful in France than in England, Constable refused to cross the Channel to promote his work, writing to Francis Darby, a fellow artist and friend, that he "would rather be a poor man in England, than a rich man abroad."

john constable biography

Constable's wife Maria, had been a weak child, and ill health plagued her for most of her life. In 1824, at the suggestion of physicians, Constable took his family to Brighton, an increasingly popular holiday resort, to enjoy the fresh sea air. Her health improved, and they maintained lodgings in the town for the next four years. Although he disliked the people in Brighton, describing it in a letter to his friend, John Fisher, as a "the offscouring of London... and the beach is Piccadilly by the sea", he loved the surrounding landscapes of which he made a range of experimental oil sketches.

Throughout his life Constable was compared with Turner and anecdotes suggest that the two maintained a lively and personal rivalry. Turner initially painted in the academic style and was welcomed into the English art establishment early in his career, finding a mentor in Joshua Reynolds . Later his style developed and diverged becoming increasingly impressionistic. Whilst similarities can be drawn between the style of Constable's oil sketches and Turner's later work their aims deviated. In contrast to Constable's studied approach, Turner often choose his subjects, compositions and lighting for dramatic effect using his images as a means to pass comment on contemporary issues and to create an emotional response in the viewer, rather than seeking the truth of what he saw.

Late Period

john constable biography

In March 1828, Maria's father died, and her large inheritance meant that their financial worries were over. Happiness was, however, short-lived. Maria, weakened by the birth of their seventh child, died from tuberculosis in November 1828, aged 41. Constable was distraught, writing to his brother Golding, "hourly do I feel the loss of my departed Angel... the face of the World is totally changed to me."

In February, the following year, Constable was elected to the Royal Academy at the age of 52. Constable never recovered from the loss of his wife and struggled with the responsibility of bringing up their seven children. In 1831 he painted his final six-footer, Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows , (1831) at the suggestion of Bishop Fisher.

Constable spent the last few years of his life delivering public lectures on landscape painting at the Royal Institution, the Hampstead and Literary and Scientific Society and the Worcester Athenaeum. He also embarked on a project to publish a folio of mezzotints but was unable to interest enough subscribers for the venture to be a financial success, although today they are widely sought after. He died in 1837 in his studio in Bloomsbury and is buried at Hampstead Parish Church, London.

The Legacy of John Constable

The grave of John Constable, Hampstead Parish Church, London

Constable was one of the first artists of the Romantic movement to create landscape paintings drawn directly from nature rather than the idealised and dramatic depictions favored by other artists of the period and in taking this stance he pioneered Naturalism in Britain. His treatment of light, application of paint and his use of bright, naturalistic colors also set him apart. Through the exhibition of his canvases in Paris, Constable influenced major figures of European art including Richard Parkes Bonington and Delacroix . Delacroix's journals include an account of Constable's technique, particularly his use of "broken color and flickering light". Delacroix incorporated these ideas into his work when he repainted the background to Scenes from the Massacres of Chios (1824).

Constable's legacy is also apparent in the work of the Barbizon School , a group of French painters who worked to establish Realism in French landscape painting. His impasto style and his practice of direct observations from nature were developed by notable artists from this school such as Jean-François Millet and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot and later, by the Impressionists .

Although Constable fell out of favor following the Gothic revival in the mid-19 th century, he found a new following in the early-20 th century, particularly with the British Impressionists such as Philip Wilson Steer. Lucian Freud also cited Constable as a significant influence on his work, commending his oil sketches as "completely fresh, really passionate pictures."

Influences and Connections

Thomas Gainsborough

Useful Resources on John Constable

  • Memoirs of the Life of John Constable Our Pick By C.R. Leslie
  • Constable By Ian Fleming-Williams and Leslie Parris
  • Constable: The Natural Painter By Graham Reynolds
  • John Constable: The Man and His Art By Ronald Parkinson
  • Constable By John Walker
  • John Constable: A Kingdom of His Own, London By Anthony Bailey
  • Constable in Love: Love, Landscape, Money and the Making of a Great Painter Our Pick By Martin Gayford
  • Constable: The great landscapes By Anne Lyles
  • John Constable: The Making of a Master Our Pick By Mark Evans
  • Constable By Jonathan Clarkson
  • John Constable's Skies By John E. Thornes
  • John Constable: The Making of a Master, V&A, review: 'spellbinding' By Mark Hudson / The Daily Telegraph / Sept 16, 2014
  • Constable and the English Landscape By Beth Harris and Steven Zucker / The Khan Academy
  • Turner and Constable exhibitions revive Britain's greatest art rivalry Our Pick By Jonathan Jones / The Guardian / April 24, 2014
  • The Romantic Art of John Constable and Eugene Delacroix Our Pick By Claudia Reid / CUJAH / Jan 1, 2013
  • At the V&A By Rosemary Hill / London Review of Books / October 23, 2014
  • Englishmen abroad By Jonathan Jones / The Guardian / Thurs 10, 2002
  • Constable: A Country Rebel Our Pick Detailed overview by Alastair Sooke
  • John Constable: The radical landscape of The Hay Wain | National Gallery Our Pick
  • Curator's Perspective: "A Conservative Revolutionary: John Constable and Art History"

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The Fighting Temeraire Tugged To Her Last Berth to Be Broken Up (1839)

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Red Haired Man on a Chair (1962)

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Content compiled and written by Zaid S. Sethi

Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added by Kate Stephenson

Biography of John Constable, British Landscape Painter

  • Art History
  • Architecture
  • M.L.S, Library Science, Indiana University

John Constable (June 11, 1776—March 31, 1837) was one of the most prominent British landscape painters of the 1800s. Tied strongly to the Romantic Movement, he embraced the idea of painting directly from nature and introduced scientific detail to his work. He struggled to make ends meet during his lifetime, but today he is recognized as a vital link in the evolution toward impressionism.

Fast Facts: John Constable

  • Known For: Landscape painter and pioneer of naturalism, known for his scientific approach to painting and his large-scale "six footers"
  • Born: June 11, 1776 in East Bergholt, England
  • Parents: Golding and Ann Constable
  • Died: March 31, 1837 in London, England
  • Education: Royal Academy
  • Art Movement: Romanticism
  • Mediums: Oil painting and watercolors
  • Selected Works: "Dedham Vale" (1802), "The White Horse" (1819), "The Hay Wain" (1821)
  • Spouse: Maria Elizabeth Bicknell
  • Children: Seven: John Charles, Maria Louisa, Charles Golding, Isobel, Emma, Alfred, Lionel
  • Notable Quote: "Painting is a science and should be pursued as an inquiry into the laws of nature."

Early Life and Training

Born in East Bergholt, a small town on the River Stour in England, John Constable was the son of a wealthy corn trader. His father owned the ship that he used to send corn to London. The family expected John to succeed his father in running the merchant business.

Early in his life, Constable took sketching trips in the land around his home, which is now known as "Constable Country." The surrounding countryside would feature in the bulk of his later art. The young painter met artist John Thomas Smith, who encouraged him to stay in the family business and avoid working professionally as an artist. Constable didn't follow the advice.

In 1790, John Constable convinced his father to allow him to embark on a career in art. He entered the Royal Academy Schools, where he studied and made copies of paintings by the old masters. He particularly admired the work of Thomas Gainsborough and Peter Paul Rubens .

Constable rejected the position of drawing master at Great Marlow Military College in 1802. Noted artist Benjamin West predicted the rejection would spell the end of Constable's painting career. The younger artist was steadfast and insisted that he wanted to be a professional painter, not an instructor.

In the first years of the 1800s, Constable painted views of Dedham Vale near his home. The works are not as mature as his later work, but the peaceful atmosphere he became known for is abundantly present.

In 1803, Constable began exhibiting his paintings at the Royal Academy. He did not make enough from his landscapes to live on, so he accepted portrait commissions to make ends meet. While the artist reportedly found portraiture dull, he executed many well-received portraits throughout his career.

Rising Reputation

Following his marriage to Maria Bicknell in 1816, John Constable began experimenting with bright, more vibrant colors and livelier brushstrokes. The new techniques enhanced the emotional impact of his work. Unfortunately, he only managed to scrape by on income from sales of paintings.

In 1819, Constable finally experienced a breakthrough. He released "The White Horse," known as the first of his "six-footers," large-scale paintings measuring six-feet or more in length. The enthusiastic reception helped Constable in his election as an Associate of the Royal Academy. The 1821 exhibition of "The Hay Wain" further enhanced the artist's reputation.

When "The Hay Wain" appeared at the Paris Salon of 1824, the French king awarded it a gold medal. The award began a period in which Constable was more successful in France than at home in England. However, he refused to cross the English Channel to promote his work in person, preferring to remain at home.

In 1828, after giving birth to the couple's seventh child, Constable's wife, Maria, contracted tuberculosis and died at age 41. Deeply saddened by the loss, Constable dressed in black. He invested a legacy from the death of Maria's father in his art. Unfortunately, the results were a financial failure, and the artist continued to scrape by.

The following year, the Royal Academy elected John Constable a full member. He began giving public lectures on landscape painting. He contended that his work contained elements of both science and poetry.

Constable Landscapes

At the time that John Constable created his most celebrated landscape paintings, the prevailing opinion in the art world was that artists should use their imagination in producing pictures. Painting directly from nature was considered a lesser pursuit.

Constable created many large, complete preliminary sketches for his paintings to work out the composition details. Art historians today value the sketches for what they say about the artist. Many of them are more emotional and aggressive than the finished paintings. They point in the direction of the innovations of impressionist and post-impressionist painters more than 50 years later.

The sky and textures of the clouds interested Constable when painting his landscapes. He insisted on being more scientific in his renderings of atmospheric details. Late in his career, he began painting rainbows. Occasionally, he included rainbows that would have been a physical impossibility based on the other sky conditions shown. The pioneering work of Luke Howard on classifying clouds had a significant impact on Constable's work.

Later Career

In the 1830s, John Constable switched from oil painting to watercolors. His final "six-footer" was the 1831 rendering of "Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows." The stormy weather and the accompanying rainbow in the picture were understood to represent the artist's turbulent emotional state. However, the rainbow is a symbol of hope for a brighter future.

In 1835, Constable painted "Stonehenge," one of his best-loved works. It is a watercolor that shows the monumental arrangement of ancient stones against the backdrop of a sky that features a double rainbow. The same year, he delivered his final lecture to the Royal Academy. He spoke with abundant praise about the old master Raphael and stated that the Royal Academy was "the cradle of British art."

Constable continued to work in his studio until his final days. He died of heart failure in his studio on March 31, 1837.

Along with William Turner , John Constable is recognized as one of the most notable landscape artists of the 19th century. In his lifetime, the art world didn't recognize him as one of the top talents, but his reputation remains solid today.

Constable is considered a pioneer of naturalism in painting in England. He was one of the first major artists to work directly from nature and apply his knowledge of light and naturalistic detail to Romantic subject matter. The emotional impact of many of his landscapes remains dramatic and idealized. Still, his studies resulted in rendering plants in such detail that a viewer may ascertain the specific species he painted.

Constable was a significant influence on the French leader of the Romantic Movement in painting, Eugene Delacroix. In journal entries written by Delacroix, he stated that he admired Constable's use of "broken color and flickering light."

The Barbizon School, French painters who focused on realism in landscape painting, felt the impact of Constable's innovations, too. Jean-Francois Millet and Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot took the direct observation of nature even further in an evolution that led to impressionism.

  • Evans, Mark. Constable's Skies . Thames & Hudson, 2018.
  • Evans, Mark. John Constable: The Making of a Master . Victoria & Albert Museum, 2014.
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The National Gallery home

John Constable

John Constable

Constable is famous for his landscapes, which are mostly of the Suffolk countryside, where he was born and lived. He made many open-air sketches, using these as a basis for his large exhibition paintings, which were worked up in the studio. His pictures are extremely popular today, but they were not particularly well received in England during his lifetime. He did, however, have considerable success in Paris.

Constable was born in East Bergholt, Suffolk. He was largely self-taught, and developed slowly. In 1799 he was a probationer, and in 1800 a student at the Royal Academy schools. He exhibited from 1802 at the Royal Academy in London, and later at the Paris Salon. He influenced the Barbizon School and the French Romantic movement.

Like Thomas Gainsborough , Constable was influenced by Dutch artists such as Jacob van Ruisdael . The works of Peter Paul Rubens and Claude also proved to be useful colouristic and compositional models. However, the realism and vitality of Constable's work make it highly original.

Paintings by John Constable

Cenotaph to the Memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays

John constable (1776–1837).

Mrs. James Pulham Sr. (Frances Amys, ca. 1766–1856)

Mrs. James Pulham Sr. (Frances Amys, ca. 1766–1856)

John Constable

Hampstead Heath with Bathers

Hampstead Heath with Bathers

Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds

Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds

Summer Morning

Summer Morning

David Lucas

Elizabeth E. Barker Department of Drawings and Prints, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

October 2004

The English landscape painter John Constable once wrote, “I should paint my own places best.” This precept guided his career, as Constable developed a unique style combining objective studies of nature with a deeply personal vision of the countryside round his boyhood home. While most landscapists of the day traveled extensively in search of picturesque or sublime scenery, Constable never left England. His name is so closely associated with his native Stour Valley that the area is sometimes referred to as “Constable country.”

The son of Golding Constable, a landowning farmer, miller, and corn merchant, Constable grew up along the Stour River in East Bergholt, Suffolk. Although his family hoped that he would join his father’s business, they permitted him to enter the Royal Academy Schools at the age of twenty-two. Until he completed his studies nearly ten years later, Constable divided his time between East Bergholt, where he would sketch out of doors in the spring and summer, and London, where he exhibited finished oil paintings based on these open-air studies at the Academy.

Rejecting the accepted hierarchy of genres, which ranked idealized landscapes that told historical or mythological tales above views observed in nature, Constable sought recognition for humbler scenes of cultivated land and agricultural labor ( The Cornfield ; 1826; National Gallery, London). The small, precise painting Golding Constable’s Flower Garden (1815; Ipswich Borough Council) seems to record every detail of his father’s domestic garden, as well as the barns and fields beyond.

Beginning with the 1819 Academy exhibition, Constable demonstrated his aspirations more boldly by exhibiting large-scale scenes of working farms and waterways painted in his studio, using increasingly broad brushstrokes and thickly applied highlights. The Hay Wain (1821; National Gallery, London), one of these so-called six-footers, was among the three paintings that Constable exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1824, where he was awarded a gold medal. His strikingly fresh, apparently spontaneous transcription of the landscape, described by the French writer Stendhal as “the mirror of nature,” caused a sensation among French painters. For Eugène Delacroix, in particular, Constable’s rich, shimmering surfaces came as a revelation, and, during his 1825 visit to London, he sought out the reclusive artist.

Yet success had come late to Constable, who often struggled to support a large family (his wife Maria bore seven children before she died in 1828). Throughout the 1810s and 1820s, Constable supplemented his income by painting portraits ( 06.1272 ) of local dignitaries. The patronage of Dr. John Fisher, whom Constable first met in 1798 and who later became bishop of Salisbury, remained crucial throughout his career. Between 1811 and 1829, Constable often visited the Reverend Fisher at Salisbury, where he sketched the Gothic cathedral ( 50.145.8 ) from a range of viewpoints under various weather conditions. These preliminary oil studies served as the basis of several paintings that picture Salisbury Cathedral alternately menaced by storms, framed by puffy cumulous clouds, or surmounted by a rainbow.

Intensive studies of clouds and skies enabled Constable to achieve these unique atmospheric effects. In 1821 and 1822, during his intense “skying” period, he produced dozens of watercolor , crayon, and oil studies of the clouds over Hampstead Heath ( 2009.400.26 ). His cloud studies—celebrated today—were not exhibited in his lifetime. Painted rapidly, wet-in-wet, Constable used short strokes and a restricted color palette to train his hand and eye, and to enhance the realism of his later paintings. He labeled almost all of these images with scientific precision, indicating the date, time, wind, and weather conditions under which they were painted. Yet his ultimate goal was to paint the sky—which he deemed landscape’s “chief organ of sentiment”—more expressively. Indeed, landscapes from the time of his wife’s death (e.g., Hadleigh Castle , 1828–29; Tate, London) feature dark, turbulent skies that carry the brunt of the works’ emotional weight.

In the later part of his career, Constable made fewer open-air oil sketches. Instead, he increasingly prepared studio sketches inspired by his earlier outdoor drawings. He undertook one major project in his final years—a series of twenty mezzotints after his paintings entitled Various Subjects of Landscape, Characteristic of English Scenery ( 39.68.27 ) to be engraved by a little-known printmaker, David Lucas, under his supervision. The series, known as English Landscape and published from 1830 to 1833, became a manifesto of his views on landscape painting and a summary of his career. The second edition bore the subtitle “Principally Intended to Mark the Phenomena of the Chiar’Oscuro of Nature,” reflecting his belief that chiaroscuro, or the contrast between light and dark, was a principle of nature, and therefore crucial to landscape painting (the medium of mezzotint excels at conveying such tonal gradations). This emphasis on naturalism distinguishes Constable’s approach from the classical tradition of landscape painting. Today he is often considered, along with J. M. W. Turner , one of England’s greatest landscape painters.

Barker, Elizabeth E. “John Constable (1776–1837).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History . New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/jcns/hd_jcns.htm (October 2004)

Further Reading

Rosenthal, Michael. Constable: The Painter and His Landscape . New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983.

Shields, Conal, and Leslie Parris. John Constable, 1776–1837 . London: Tate Gallery, 1985.

Additional Essays by Elizabeth E. Barker

  • Barker, Elizabeth E.. “ The Printed Image in the West: Mezzotint .” (October 2003)
  • Barker, Elizabeth E.. “ Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) .” (October 2004)
  • Barker, Elizabeth E.. “ Watercolor Painting in Britain, 1750–1850 .” (October 2004)
  • Barker, Elizabeth E.. “ William Blake (1757–1827) .” (October 2004)

Related Essays

  • Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851)
  • The Printed Image in the West: Mezzotint
  • Romanticism
  • The Salon and the Royal Academy in the Nineteenth Century
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Artist or Maker

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Biography Online

Biography

John Constable Biography

John Constable

John Constable was born 11 June in East Bergholt, Suffolk where he spent most of his life. He was the son of a wealthy mill owner and coal merchant. Growing up, John helped with his father’s business and spent considerable time absorbed in nature, drawing sketches of the countryside. He referred to his ‘careless boyhood’ as being a factor in his journey towards becoming a painter. In particular, his childhood walks with the sights and sounds of the countryside drew him into painting.

“the sound of water escaping from mill dams etc., willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork, I love such things.”

He was mostly self-taught, though, in 1799, he was able to persuade his father to allow him to pursue a career in art – and after his father agreement, he entered the Royal Academy School for a short time, where he studied great artists such as Thomas Gainsborough and Peter Paul Rubens.

His most famous paintings were of the area around Dedham Vale where he lived. He painted everyday scenes of life – often evoking an untouched rural idyll. It was a break with the current fashion of seeking more romantic images of ruins and wild landscapes. Despite gaining formal training in art, Constable believed the greatest art came from using the direct inspiration of nature, rather than using various techniques and imagination to impose oneself on art.

“When I sit down to make a sketch from nature, the first thing I try to do is to forget that I have ever seen a picture”

– John Constable

John Constable The Hay Wain

the haywain - constable

In his lifetime, John Constable never achieved great financial success. He turned down an opportunity to become a professional artist for Great Marlow Military College – he was determined to make his way as a landscape painter, whatever the cost. His fame only grew after his death, and he is now one of the most famous and well known British painters.

To make ends meet, Constable often drew portraits. But, it was something he never really enjoyed. His heart was drawn to capturing the essence of the British countryside.

cornfield

John Constable’s Cornfield 1821

Constable exhibited his paintings across England at the Liverpool Academy, Birmingham Society of Arts and the Worcester Institution, but his paintings did not sell well. Ironically, he sold more paintings in France than his native England. But, when given the chance to travel to promote his paintings abroad, he said he would rather “ be a poor man in England than a rich man abroad.” In 1824, he received a gold medal from Charles X for one of his works shown at the prestigious Paris Salon.

In October 1816, despite opposition from his family, John married his childhood friend, Maria Bicknell. In 1817, they moved to Keppel Street, Bloomsbury in London. Later, after his wife became ill in London he rented a house on Hampstead, which in those days was a rural idyll.

hampstead-heath

View from Hampstead Heath (c. 1820-22)

John painted many watercolours of cloud formations from his home in Hampstead. To Constable, the sky was a key feature of landscape paintings – setting the tone of the whole scene. He wrote of the sky that it was “the keynote, the standard of scale, and the chief organ of sentiment.”

They had seven children and John was heartbroken when she died in 1828. Writing to a friend, he remarked on her death.

“Hourly do I feel the loss of my departed Angel—God only knows how my children will be brought up. I shall never feel again as I have felt, the face of the World is totally changed to me.”

He spent the remainder of his life looking after his children himself, though he was always tinged with grief and melancholy and dressed mostly in black. John Constable was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1821 when he was 52 and late into his career as a painter. He gave a series of lectures at the Royal Institution on landscape painting.

Constable died on 31 March 1837, aged 58. The cause of death was apparent heart failure. He was buried with his wife Maria at St John-at-Hampstead Church in London.

Art of John Constable

His style is reminiscent of the Classic Masters, to some extent he was influenced by Dutch artists such as Jacob van Ruisdael and Peter Paul Rubens. However he soon developed is own innovate, freestyle, which gave an added impressionistic feel to his paintings. For example, ‘Stonehenge’ gives a mythical impression of this timeless English monument.

stonehenge

Stonehenge 1835

After painting Stonehenge, Constable said:

“The mysterious monument of Stonehenge, standing remote on a bare and boundless heath, as much unconnected with the events of past ages as it is with the uses of the present, carries you back beyond all historical records into the obscurity of a totally unknown period.”

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan . “Biography of John Constable”, Oxford, UK.  www.biographyonline.net , Published 21 Dec 2009. Last updated 5 March 2020.

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John Constable

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Historic and Modern British Art

Prints and drawings rooms, artist biography, wikipedia entry.

Constable was born at East Bergholt, Suffolk, the son of a corn and coal merchant and farmer. He devoted much of his life to painting the local landscape , the scenes of his 'careless boyhood' which, he said, 'made me a painter' (in R.B. Beckett, ed., John Constable's Correspondence , VI, Ipswich 1968, p.78). He went to work for his father in the family business about 1792. In 1794 he made a sketching tour of Norfolk. He made his first etchings in 1797. In 1799 Constable was introduced to Joseph Farington, RA, and entered the Royal Academy Schools. He visited Staffordshire and Derbyshire in 1801. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1802. He received a commission in 1805 to paint an altarpiece for the church at Brantham. He toured the Lake District in 1806. In 1810 he began work for an altarpiece for Nayland Church.

Constable began to see his future wife, Maria Bicknell (see Maria Bicknell, Mrs John Constable , 1816 Tate Gallery N02655 ) regularly from 1809, although they had met some years earlier. They married in 1816, despite opposition from her family, and eventually had seven children. They moved to Keppel Street, Bloomsbury , London in 1817. From 1819, because of his wife's ill health, Constable rented a house for his family at Hampstead, making about a hundred studies of cloud formations, many oil sketches of Hampstead views, and several 'finished' works on the spot (see Hampstead Heath, with the House Called 'The Salt Box' , c .1819-20, Tate Gallery N01236 ). They lived in Joseph Farington's former house in Charlotte Street, Bloomsbury from 1822. In 1824 they began going to Brighton for reasons of Maria's health. She died of tuberculosis in 1828. In a letter to his brother Golding of 19 December, Constable wrote, 'I shall never feel again as I have felt, the face of the World is totally changed to me' (in C.R. Leslie, ed. A. Shirley, Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, R.A. , London 1937, p.234).

Constable exhibited regularly at the British Institution from 1808, at the Liverpool Academy 1813-14, at the Birmingham Society of Arts from 1829, and at the Worcester Institution 1834-6. He was made an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1819, and a Royal Academician in 1829. The Hay-Wain (1820-1, National Gallery, London) was one of three of his works shown at the Paris Salon in 1824 and earned him a gold medal from Charles X. In 1826 he was awarded a gold medal by the Society of Fine Arts, Lille, France, following exhibits at its Salon. Friendship with the Fisher family, especially Archdeacon John Fisher, took him to Salisbury in 1811, 1820, 1823 and 1829. The first edition of English Landscape , a series of prints after his work by David Lucas, was published 1830-2. Between 1833 and 1836 Constable lectured on landscape painting at the Royal Institution, the Hampstead Literary and Scientific Society, and the Worcester Athenaeum. He visited West Sussex in 1834 and 1835. He died in Bloomsbury, and was buried in the churchyard of St John's, Hampstead.

Further reading: C.R. Leslie, ed. Jonathan Mayne, Memoirs of the Life of John Constable , London 1951 Leslie Parris and Ian Fleming-Williams, Constable , exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1991

Terry Riggs January 1998

John Constable ( ; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home – now known as "Constable Country" – which he invested with an intensity of affection. "I should paint my own places best", he wrote to his friend John Fisher in 1821, "painting is but another word for feeling".

Constable's most famous paintings include Wivenhoe Park (1816), Dedham Vale (1821) and The Hay Wain (1821). Although his paintings are now among the most popular and valuable in British art, he was never financially successful. He became a member of the establishment after he was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts at the age of 52. His work was embraced in France, where he sold more than in his native England and inspired the Barbizon school.

This biography is from Wikipedia under an Attribution-ShareAlike Creative Commons License . Spotted a problem? Let us know .

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john constable biography

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John Constable – an introduction

Constable's work transformed the genre of landscape painting and shaped the enduring popular image of the English countryside.

john constable biography

Born at East Bergholt in Suffolk, John Constable (1776 – 1837) was the fourth child of Golding and Ann Constable. In 1792 he began work in the flourishing family business, trading and transporting corn and coal on and around the River Stour. He first took up painting and drawing as a gentlemanly pursuit under the guidance of a local amateur artist, John Dunthorne. A turning point for Constable came in 1795 when he met the amateur artist and collector Sir George Beaumont and was exposed to Beaumont's collection of major paintings by the Old Masters. A grounding in art history and theory came from his contemporary John Cranch, who supplied him a list of 'Painter's Reading', while his friend John Thomas 'Antiquity' Smith lent him drawings and prints. Constable entered the Royal Academy Schools in London in 1799 to embark on a career as a painter.

Like most professional artists of his time, Constable needed a base in London to negotiate with prospective buyers. In 1816 he married Maria Bicknell and set up home in Bloomsbury the following year. But living in central London didn't suit him and eventually the family settled in Hampstead, (then outside the city), where they lived permanently from 1827 onwards.

Constable and landscape

Constable's biographer, C.R. Leslie, wrote that the life work of Constable was "a history of his affections". Constable himself wrote that painting "is with me but another word for feeling". He undoubtedly had a nostalgic attachment to the countryside of his boyhood – the Suffolk villages of East Bergholt, Dedham, Stratford St Mary and Langham – and perhaps especially the views of the River Stour. He also frequently painted Hampstead and Salisbury – where his closest friend John Fisher, nephew of the Bishop of Salisbury, lived.

Soon after exhibiting his first painting at the Royal Academy in 1802, Constable wrote to John Dunthorne:

I shall shortly return to Bergholt where I shall make some laborious studies from nature… there is little or nothing in the exhibition worth looking up to – there is room enough for a natural painture.

Constable made his 'laborious studies' during sketching tours of the Lake District and elsewhere. He attempted to approach nature with a fresh eye and an open mind, proclaiming his love of, "willows, old rotten banks, slimy posts, & brickwork".

john constable biography

However, translating what he described as "a close and continual observance of nature" into a finished composition was an ongoing challenge. Many of Constable's exhibition paintings were the result of a complex process of development, sometimes spanning a number of years. They were composed from a wide range of oil sketches, graphite drawings, watercolour studies and earlier paintings.

The Hay Wain and the six-foot canvases

Faced with the financial pressures of a growing family, the commercial success of his paintings became increasingly important. For Constable's six large scenes of the River Stour, including The Hay Wain (1821) and The Leaping Horse (1825), he adopted the painstaking process of making full-size preparatory oil sketches. They helped him to coordinate motifs and balance colour, light and shade, solving compositional problems while retaining the freshness of his smaller drawings and oil sketches. These six-foot canvases were some of Constable's greatest successes when exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1819 and 1825.

john constable biography

Hampstead, Salisbury and Brighton

Constable continued his studies of nature despite changing family circumstances (his wife Maria began to suffer from tuberculosis). In the early 1820s, while in Hampstead, he embarked on a series depicting clouds and atmospheric effects, writing to his friend John Fisher, "That landscape painter who does not make his skies a very material part of his composition – neglects to avail himself of one of his greatest aids".

john constable biography

His wife's poor health meant that Constable took lodgings for his family in Brighton from 1824 until 1828, the year of Maria's death. Drawings and oil sketches from this period record the artist's fascination with his surroundings during his extended visits to Brighton. We recently discovered that the reverse of Brighton Beach With Colliers (1824), is annotated with notes about the scene describing, "cliffs & light off a dark grey sky effect – background – very white and golden light".

Dr John Fisher invited Constable to stay in the Bishop's Palace in Salisbury in 1811 (he would later commission Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds from the artist). After 1829, when Constable abandoned oils for outdoor sketching, two of his most powerful watercolours – Old Sarum (1834) and Stonehenge (1835) – depict places he had visited while staying with his friend.

Constable and Romanticism

Landscape with a Double Rainbow (1821) is the artist's first treatment of a theme he seems to have used consciously as a symbol of hope. He painted it during a return visit to his birthplace in Suffolk. It has been related to lines from Wordsworth's poem 'My Heart Leaps Up', also known as 'The Rainbow', published in 1807:

My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began So is it now I am a man So be it when I shall grow old… The Child is father of the Man.

john constable biography

To the Romantics, the rainbow seemed the ultimate image of everything in life that was beautiful but transitory, visible but intangible. Constable himself wrote, "Nature in all the varied aspects of her beauty exhibits no feature more lovely nor any that awakens a more soothing reflection than the rainbow". He repeats the motif with a double rainbow in his later watercolour, Stonehenge (1835).

john constable biography

Constable was inspired by the landscape of his native countryside rather than the mountainous scenery favoured by the Romantics. However his subject matter was sometimes more directly Romantic, depicting ruined or wild landscapes. His 1834 representation of Salisbury's ancient settlement, Old Sarum, has been described as, 'one of the most powerful statements of Romanticism to have been produced in England'.

john constable biography

Constable's decision not to follow prevailing artistic norms meant that he had little success for many years and was not elected a full Royal Academician until 1829, at the late age of 52 (Turner, his great rival, was elected at 26). However, by combining the compositional ideas of the old masters of classical landscape with a naturalistic vision that was entirely his own, Constable would ultimately transform the genre of landscape painting – in the process shaping the enduring popular image of the English countryside.

The V&A's Constable collection

The first director of the V&A, Sir Henry Cole, recorded in his diary on 31 July 1856 that the collector John Sheepshanks had offered his paintings collection to the nation. Sheepshanks' collection included around 233 paintings, almost all by modern British artists, with six by Constable, most notably Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Ground (1823).

john constable biography

But the Museum's most important Constable acquisitions came from the artist's last surviving child, his daughter Isabel, who had inherited and cherished the main part of the family collection. She wrote that she would present to the Museum, "some Landscape Sketches by J. Constable R.A.… they can be put in a box quite ready for removal".

There were, in fact, no less than 297 drawings and watercolours, 92 oil sketches, three easel paintings and three sketchbooks.

Find out more in our book, Constable's Skies: Paintings and Sketches by John Constable .

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Background image: Shoreham Bay, Evening Sunset, John Constable, 1828, England. Museum no. 155-1888. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London Shoreham Bay, Evening Sunset, John Constable, 1828, England. Museum no. 155-1888. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

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John Constable – The Life and Works of John Constable the Artist

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John Constable was an English painter whose life spanned from the late 1700s until the early 1800s. He helped to revolutionize the art of landscape painting and elevate it to the respected art form it is today. Although he was not successful during his time, he is now thought to be one of the most famous artists in English history.

Table of Contents

  • 1.1 Early Life
  • 1.2 Constable the Artist
  • 1.3 Marriage and Children
  • 1.4 Final Years
  • 2.1 Composition
  • 2.2 Color and Light
  • 2.3 The Forefather of Impressionism
  • 3.1 Paris Salon (1824)
  • 3.2 Royal Academy of Arts (2021-2022)
  • 4.1 Drawings
  • 4.2 Paintings
  • 5.1 Memoirs of the Life of John Constable: Composed Chiefly of His Letters (1980) by Charles Robert Leslie
  • 5.2 The Early Paintings and Drawings of John Constable (1996) by Graham Reynolds
  • 5.3 John Constable: The Making of a Master (2014) by Mark Evans
  • 6.1 What Was John Constable Known For?
  • 6.2 How Much Is a John Constable Painting Worth?

Artist in Context: Who Was John Constable?

John Constable was an artist who lived a fairly peaceful existence in the English countryside. Although the life he lived was simple, the impact his art made was profound. This section will give an introduction to John Constable’s biography as well as an insight into his career.

John Constable was born on 11 June 1776 in a small village in Suffolk, England. He came from a fairly wealthy family due to the fact that his father was a corn merchant. During those times, it was typical that the oldest son would take charge of the family business once their father was no longer able to work. Constable was only his father’s second son, but his older brother was severely mentally handicapped and thus, unfit to take over.

Therefore, his father always hoped that it would be John Constable who would enter the family business.

Constable Artist

Whilst Constable did work for his father for a time, this was not his dream. Although many advised him against a career in art, his passion was too great to heed them. Realizing that his son could not be deterred, Constable’s father allowed him to enroll in the Royal Academy Schools at the age of 23.

Here, he studied drawing and painting, as well as learned about famous artists such as Claude Lorrain, who would influence his art.

Constable enjoyed painting the rural scenes that surrounded his family’s home en plein air. However, back then, landscape painting was not the esteemed art form it is today. Even those who favored Romanticism painting , which often focused on landscapes, preferred the landscapes of more exotic lands. Although Constable tried to paint scenery from other parts of England, he was always drawn back to his home county of Suffolk. For this reason, the area is now known as “Constable Country”.

John Constable Artworks

Constable the Artist

John Constable’s art was not an instant success. In fact, he struggled to sell his paintings for the majority of his career, and even then, they would not be sold for much. However, he still kept showing his paintings at exhibitions such as the Royal Academy in the hopes that they would one day sell.

Thus, in order to earn money, he often painted portraits.

Back then, there were no cameras, so these were highly in demand. Although his portraits, such as Portrait of John Fisher, Archdeacon of Berkshire (1816) and Mrs. James Pulham, Sr. (1818), were highly praised, Constable found them tedious. 

John Constable Art

John Constable’s paintings began gaining recognition around 1817. Many applauded him for works such as Flatford Mill (Scene on a Navigable River) (1816-1817), but his paintings were still not selling. His first painting was sold for 100 guineas in 1819.

This not only allowed him to enter the Royal Academy as an associate, but also gave him a level of financial stability that he had not known in his career before.

Famous Art by John Constable

The year 1821 would mark another event in Constable’s career. On a visit to England, the French artist Théodaore Géricault saw John Constable’s painting The Hay Wain (1821). He thought it was magnificent and expressed his admiration to his French peers.

Many were so inspired they began painting their own countryside in the same manner as Constable.

In 1824, the Anglo-French mogul John Arrowsmith John Constable’s paintings The Hay Wain and View on the Stour near Dedham (1822). Arrowsmith had them both displayed at the Paris Salon of 1824. The two paintings shown at the Salon even received a gold medal from Charles X of France himself. John Constable’s art received rave reviews in France. He sold more paintings here in a few years than he did in England throughout his entire career.

Famous John Constable Art

Marriage and Children

John Constable fell in love with Maria Elizabeth Bicknell when they were children. However, Maria’s family was very wealthy and did not believe that Constable was of high enough status to marry her. When Constable decided to become an artist, Maria’s family threatened to repudiate her if they got married. Even Constable’s own parents also advised him against marriage until he could support a family financially.

Unfortunately, both of Constable’s parents died soon after one another. Thus, he inherited one-fifth of the family corn business.

This allowed the couple to get married in 1816 without fear of becoming impoverished. The two had a very happy marriage, producing seven children. However, sadly, three of the seven children (John, Alfred, and Emily) died whilst they were all quite young. For unknown reasons, his other three children Maria Louisa, Isabel, and Lionel did not marry or have any children of their own. The only child to give the artist grandchildren was his son Charles.

John Constable Son

In 1824, Constable’s wife Maria fell ill. They believed it to be the early onset of tuberculosis. Thus, in order to try to benefit Maria’s health, the family moved to the seaside town of Brighton. They lived here for four years, however, Maria eventually succumbed to consumption.

This left Constable to raise his children alone, many of whom were still very young.

Maria’s death sent Constable into a deep depression. He expressed this sadness in many areas of his life, refusing to wear any color but black and painting only gloomy scenes. John Constable’s art during this time was highly emotive. One can see evidence of this in paintings such as Hadleigh Castle (1829) and Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831).

John Constable Paintings

Final Years

In 1831, John Constable became a guest lecturer at the Royal Academy as well as the Royal Institution. His students were said to have loved him and his lessons. He lectured primarily on his approach to landscape painting, as well as some history of the genre.

His most pressed point was that artists must paint from life, not their imagination, as well as that art, like many things in life, is something that one must study and practice in order to become good at it.  

Constable died on 31 March 1837 of coronary infarction. He was only 60 years old at this time. His body was buried next to that of his wife Maria. The St John-at-Hampstead Church, where the couple was buried, would become the place of their family tomb. All of their children would later be laid to rest here as well.

John Constable Biography

Artistic Characteristics of John Constable

John Constable’s art was groundbreaking and unique at the time of its creation. His paintings showcased novel techniques and color schemes that were not often utilized. This section will take a closer at some of the traits which defined his personal style.

Composition

John Constable always painted nature exactly how he saw it, capturing its raw beauty. During this time, it was customary for artists to alter the scene they painted in order to refine and perfect it. They would edit out fallen leaves or neaten up hedges. Constable, on the other hand, was all about conveying a realistic landscape with all of its quirks intact.

Constable also liked to create compositions that unified nature and man.

This desire for harmony between humanity and the elements was typical of Romantic painters. Constable would use a combination of manmade elements, such as building or farming equipment, and untamed landscapes to create interest. Some of his most famous paintings, such as The Hay Wain (1821), showcase this.

Best John Constable Paintings

Color and Light

John Constable’s use of rich, vibrant colors in his landscapes was highly unique. Until then, landscapes were only ever painted using dull, sepia tones. It is unknown whether this was intentional or whether the varnish used to seal them diluted the colors. Constable deviated from this tradition, choosing to paint his landscapes in rich, complex colors instead.

Constable wanted his paintings to convey what he saw as realistically as he possibly could.

This meant that he had to experiment with new techniques of showing light and motion. This was particularly the case when painting water or the shadows cast by trees. To do this, he would add white highlights to his paintings, something that was fairly out of the ordinary for the time. This can be seen in paintings such as Dedham Lock and Mill (c. 1818/1820) as well as Water Meadows near Salisbury (1820).

Art by John Constable

The Forefather of Impressionism

Although John Constable was a Romanticism painter, many of his notable art characteristics bear resemblance to the Impressionists who came later. Firstly, the most visible similarity between Constable’s style and the Impressionists is his use of the impasto technique . The impasto technique is when an artist applies a thick layer of paint in which their brushstrokes can be seen.

This was not commonly used in Constable’s time and thus, was not very well received.

Another similarity between Constable’s work and that of the Impressionists was his love of en plein air painting . He loved to paint the countryside surrounding his home. At this time, it was also highly unusual to paint landscapes that contained human figures. This was something Constable loved to do and can be seen in many of his paintings such as Stratford Mill (1820) and Marine Parade and Old Chain Pier (1826). The Impressionists later employed figures in their landscapes regularly.

Famous Paintings by John Constable

Important John Constable Artist Exhibitions

Although John Constable struggled to sell his paintings during his lifetime, this did not deter him from displaying them. Constable showed his artworks at plenty of art exhibitions, primarily in England and France. Two of his more noteworthy exhibitions will be discussed below.

Paris Salon (1824)

In 1824, a man named John Arrowsmith purchased two of John Constable’s paintings. These were The Hay Wain (1821) and View on the Stour near Dedham (1822). Arrowsmith, who was of British and French heritage, decided to enter the two paintings into the Paris Salon.

The French were enamored by Constable’s talent and originality.

So much so that he was awarded a gold medal by the king at the time, Charles X of France himself. Not only did this boost his career in France, but it also inspired many French artists to emulate his art style. For this reason, many consider this to be the most important exhibition he participated in during his lifetime.

John Constable Salon

Royal Academy of Arts (2021-2022)

Although this exhibition was held long after John Constable’s death, it is significant for two reasons. Firstly, Constable was a member of the Royal Academy himself. Not only did he study there, but he also lectured for them for a time. Thus, it is necessary for them to pay homage to him for the contributions he made to their establishment. Secondly, this exhibition is one of the largest displays of his works all in one venue. The reason this is so significant is that it is important that his works be introduced to the new generation in order to prolong his legacy.

The exhibition showcases a number of sketches, prints, watercolors, and oil paintings in order to give audiences a holistic view of his art.

John Constable Artworks

John Constable was an artist who created a large body of work throughout his lifetime. He utilized a variety of mediums including drawing, painting, and printmaking. This part of the article will give some insight into the artworks he created during his life.

John Constable was known primarily for his landscape paintings. Before he created these, often using either oil or watercolor paints, he would sketch the area. However, there are few of his drawings still in existence, making them very valuable. Below is a list of drawings, which now belong to public or private collections.

  • Self Portrait (1806)
  • Salisbury Cathedral (1823)
  • View on the River Severn at Worcester (1835)

John Constable Artist

John Constable created so many paintings during his career that it would be impossible to discuss them all. Thus, this section will focus on his most famous paintings, a series of six landscapes known as the “Six-Footers”.

John Constable’s paintings were original for a number of reasons but most obviously due to their size. At this time, landscapes were typically completed on a smaller scale than historical or biblical paintings . Constable wished to not only draw attention to his landscapes but also make them appear life-sized, as if one was looking out of a window onto the scene. Due to their immense size, he could not paint them en plein air as he typically would.

Therefore, he created smaller, yet not less impressive, versions of them to use as a reference in his studio.

Famous John Constable Paintings

Each of the six “Six-Footers” displays a scene on the Stour River. This was located close to Constable’s home, where he spent a good deal of his life studying and sketching. This personal connection with the river allowed Constable to put his heart and soul into the paintings. One may also notice that whilst the first few paintings in the series depict serene scenes, the last two, The Lock and The Leaping Horse, contain more activity.

“The Lock” is the only painting in the series which is painted vertically, an unusual choice for a landscape painting.

Paintings by John Constable

Book Recommendations

John Constable was a fairly private man who just wanted a simple life. However, this did not mean that he was dull in the slightest. If you would like to read more about this interesting English artist, check out one of the book recommendations below.

Memoirs of the Life of John Constable: Composed Chiefly of His Letters (1980) by Charles Robert Leslie

Memoirs of the Life of John Constable: Composed Chiefly of His Letters was written by Charles Robert Leslie and published by Cornwell University Press in 1980. The novel tells the story of John Constable’s biography through a compilation of his letters. In these letters, one can learn the views and opinions of the artist stated in his own words. For context, the author has included explanatory notes for those who do not know much about Constable.

Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, Esq., R. A.: Composed Chiefly of His Letters

  • Selected by scholars as being culturally important
  • Reproduced from the original and remains as accurate as possible
  • Includes original copyright references, library stamps, and more

The Early Paintings and Drawings of John Constable (1996) by Graham Reynolds

The Early Paintings and Drawings of John Constable was written by Graham Reynolds and published by Yale University Press in 1996. It is actually two books, one which contains a collection of 1370 Constable sketches and paintings, and another which contains background information and analyses on these artworks. This book contains beautiful prints of the artist’s work, many of which now belong to private collections.

The Early Paintings and Drawings of John Constable: Text and Plates

  • A discussion of all the paintings and drawings produced by Constable
  • A beautiful two-volume set, with one of text and one of plates
  • Describes and reproduces 1370 paintings and drawings in date order

John Constable: The Making of a Master (2014) by Mark Evans

John Constable: The Making of a Master was written by Mark Evans and published by the Victoria and Alfred Museum in 2014. The book focuses primarily on his painting techniques rather than his biography. The book also goes into detail about which artists Constable was inspired by as well as why he is an inspiration to many artists who followed him.

John Constable: The Making of a Master

  • Reconciles Constable's techniques with reverence for the masters
  • Discusses how Constable assimilated the old masters' ideas
  • Why Constable is such a powerful influence on contemporary artists
John Constable had a profound effect on the art of landscape painting. Unfortunately, he did not achieve widespread popularity or financial success during his time on earth. However, in the modern day, he is considered one of the most influential Romanticism painters in history. In 2005, his painting “The Hay Wain” was voted Britain’s second best-loved painting by the BBC, showing that his legacy is still going strong.

Frequently Asked Questions

What was john constable known for.

John Constable was an English painter who primarily painted landscapes. Constable completely transformed how people looked at landscape painting, thought of previously as a lowly form of art. He pushed boundaries by using new techniques and painting on a much larger scale than was customary for landscapes at the time. His painting The Hay Wain (1821) was elected the second-best painting in British history by a 2005 survey.

How Much Is a John Constable Painting Worth?

In 2012, one of John Constable’s famous so-called Six-Footers The Lock (1824) sold for an incredible £22.4 million. The Lock was Constable’s most successful painting during his lifetime, being the only one to sell on the first day of its exhibition. It was bought by an innkeeper’s son named James Morrison for 150 guineas. Today, 150 guineas are equal to a measly £157.50.

Emma Littleton

Emma completed her Bachelor’s Degree in International Studies at the University of Stellenbosch. She majored in French, Political Science, and History. She graduated cum laude with a Postgraduate Diploma in Intercultural Communication. However, with all of these diverse interests, she became confused about what occupation to pursue. While exploring career options Emma interned at a nonprofit organization as a social media manager and content creator. This confirmed what she had always known deep down, that writing was her true passion.

Growing up, Emma was exposed to the world of art at an early age thanks to her artist father. As she grew older her interests in art and history collided and she spent hours pouring over artists’ biographies and books about art movements. Primitivism, Art Nouveau, and Surrealism are some of her favorite art movements. By joining the Art in Context team, she has set foot on a career path that has allowed her to explore all of her interests in a creative and dynamic way.

Learn more about the Art in Context Team .

Cite this Article

Emma, Littleton, “John Constable – The Life and Works of John Constable the Artist.” Art in Context. July 11, 2022. URL: https://artincontext.org/john-constable/

Littleton, E. (2022, 11 July). John Constable – The Life and Works of John Constable the Artist. Art in Context. https://artincontext.org/john-constable/

Littleton, Emma. “John Constable – The Life and Works of John Constable the Artist.” Art in Context , July 11, 2022. https://artincontext.org/john-constable/ .

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John Constable

British, English

The Hay Wain

The Hay Wain 1821

John Constable (1776–1837)

The National Gallery, London

(Born East Bergholt, Suffolk, 11 June 1776; died Hampstead, Middlesex [now in London], 31 March/1 April 1837). English painter, ranked with his contemporary Turner as one of the two greatest figures in the history of British landscape painting. Both of them brought a new freedom and inventiveness to their subject and they had a good deal of mutual respect. However, their temperaments and goals differed greatly and their careers were strongly contrasting. Whereas Turner was precocious and soon achieved critical and financial success, Constable was slow to mature and had difficulty in making a name in England (he was more appreciated in France). He was the son of a prosperous corn merchant, and was trained for a career in the family business.

Text source: The Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford University Press)

Artworks by John Constable

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John Constable Biography

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John Constable Biography

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Tom Gurney

Discover the route to stardom of the exceptional landscape painter, John Constable, in this detailed biography.

Constable was born into a wealthy family. His father, Golding, owned Flatford Mill and Dedham Mill and was a hugely successful and influential com merchant.

He also owned a large container ship, The Telegraph, which was used for transportation purposes to get goods safely into London.

Constable's eldest and only brother, Abram, had a learning disability, and as such, it was expected that the running of the business would be handed over to John, on his father's death.

However, John Constable wanted to forge his own path. He did enrol in business school, at his father's insistence, and worked for a short while in the family business, but Abram did eventually take over the running of the company and its associated mills.

Early Work as an Artist

Constable began to sketch the local area from a very young age. He created sketches of the local mills, waterfalls and countryside. It is many of these early sketches that backed the foundation of his later work, and Constable placed great emphasis upon his sketches, claiming that they made him the painter who he wanted to be.

It was during his youth that Constable made acquaintances with the art collector, George Beaumont, who allowed Constable to view the painting, Hagar and the Angel, that was painted by Claude Lorrain , it was this painting that became the inspiration and force behind Constables paintings. A few years later, while holidaying in Middlesex, he met John Thomas Smith, a professional artist, who urged Constable to persue his love of drawing and painting, while remaining as a player in the family business.

It was during the year, 1799, that Constable was finally allowed to pursue his dream of becoming a professional painter, as his father finally relented and accepted his son's choice of career. His father gave him some money, enough to allow him to enrol on the probationary course at the prestigious, Royal Academy School.

Studies with the Old Masters

As well as his studies comprising of those of the Old Masters, he also perfected the art of life drawing. Artists that both inspired and shaped his artistic style were those of Thomas Gainsborough, Peter Paul Rubens, Claude Lorrain, Jacob van Ruisdael and Annibale Carracciand. Four years later in 1803, he was proudly exhibiting his very own paintings in the Academy. During 1802 Constable declined the great honour of becoming an esteemed master of drawing at the Great Marlow Military College. He declined as he believed that gaining this position would mean an end to his artistic career. At this point, Constable was determined to become a professional painter of landscapes.

Throughout his artistic career, Constable fiercely fought against the popular theme of the era, which was of that to paint from the imagination. Constable was determined to paint accurate depictions of the nature that surrounded him. He very much believed in painting in the moment, and of capturing the environment exactly as it was at that given time. He was a progressive artist and thinker. As part of his painting method, he would compose full sized and to scale sketches, and then use them as a basis for his finished painting. These sketches continue to fascinate many critics and individuals who adore art, as they were extremely unique during this period.

Significant Paintings

Two of his oil paintings; The Hay Wain and The Leaping Horse when in their primitive sketch phases, did lack in expression and artistic enthusiasm, that are clearly evident in the finished paintings. The oil sketches that he produced are of particular interest, in that they did show a different artistic style directed towards the technique of landscape painting. Constable painted in a completely different style to his fellow contemporary artists and paved the way for artists to express themselves in whatever manner they chose. The same was also true with reference to Constable's watercolours. Stonehenge that he painted in 1835, showed the observer a stunning double rainbow, which today is considered by many to be his finest and most famous watercolour painting. The painting was exhibited in 1836, with the description telling the viewer that the monument was mysterious and that it is linked to both the past and present.

Use of Oil Sketches

During his career, Constable undertook many large scale artistic sketches of the landscape. He also had a great interest in clouds and composed many cloud paintings. His studies were geared towards accurately representing on canvas the geographical climate and atmosphere. For example, one such painting was The Chain Pier that he painted in 1827. He willed the observer to almost wish for an umbrella, while observing the scene before them, with an apparent storm brewing on the horizon. All of his sketches where conducted in the landscape he wished to paint, out in the elements. His choice for doing so, was to evoke all the senses and to accurately show natural movement and light.

Constable possessed a vey unique and rustic style for the period in which he painted, with the observer clearly viewing uneven and broken brushstrokes on the canvas. He often painted small dabs of paint, which he would later paint over with lighter touches, giving the impression of illuminating light. One painting that clearly shows this artistic style to its fullest is that of the Seascape Study with Rain Cloud from 1824. This was painted while he was staying in Brighton and the dark applied brush strokes are clearly delisting the dark and brooding sea.

He was also very much known for his painting of rainbows. Two of his many paintings that have rainbows as central themes include the Cottage at East Bergholt and Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows.

Artistic Legacy

Constable's fresh and honest technique of painting completely revolutionised the art world and opened the doors for many future artists. He inspired fellow artists such as Delacroix and Géricault, as wellas well as artists working in the French Barbizon School of Art. The French impressionist movement of the nineteenth century was also greatly influenced by his style and unique talent and take on the world.

Constable's most famous works include Wivenhoe Park, that he painted in 1816; Dedham Vale, that was painted in 1802 and of course, The Hay Wain from 1821. Although incredibly popular and well known today, Constable failed to become financially comfortable from his art. It was only at the age of 52 that he became a member of the Royal Academy. His work was heartily accepted and well known in France, which is where he sold must of his paintings. It was Constable and his style of art that inspired the formation of the Barbizon School of Art.

Article Author

Tom Gurney

Tom Gurney in an art history expert. He received a BSc (Hons) degree from Salford University, UK, and has also studied famous artists and art movements for over 20 years. Tom has also published a number of books related to art history and continues to contribute to a number of different art websites. You can read more on Tom Gurney here.

Artble

John Constable

  • Style and Technique
  • A View at Salisbury from Archdeacon Fisher's House
  • Autumn Sunset

Dedham Vale

Flatford Mill

  • Flatford Mill from the Lock

Maria Bicknell Mrs John Constable

  • Salisbury Cathedral and Leadenhall from the River Avon
  • Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Ground
  • Salisbury Cathedral from the Close
  • Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows
  • Stratford Mill
  • Stratford Mill 1819
  • The Cornfield

The Hay Wain

The Opening of Waterloo Bridge ('Whitehall Stairs June 18th 1817')

The White Horse

Weymouth Bay: Bowleaze Cove and Jordon Hill

  • Salisbury Cathedral: exterior from the south-west

John Constable Biography

John Constable

  • Short Name:
  • Date of Birth:
  • 11 Jun 1776
  • Date of Death:
  • 31 Mar 1837
  • Oil, Watercolor
  • Art Movement:
  • Romanticism
  • East Bergholt, United Kingdom
  • John Constable Biography Page's Content

Introduction

  • Early Years
  • Middle Years
  • Advanced Years

The Opening of Waterloo Bridge ('Whitehall Stairs June 18th 1817')

John Constable is often thought of as one of the most important painters of the English countryside that ever lived, but he was actually more successful in France during his lifetime. Born and raised in Suffolk, the artist never left England to work and discarded what could have been a comfortable life running the family business in order to pursue his passion for art.

John Constable Early Years

Flatford Mill

Landscape with Hagar and the Angel

Claude Lorrain

John Constable was born in East Bergholt, a village on the River Stour in Suffolk, in 1776. His father was a wealthy corn merchant, owner of Flatford Mill in East Bergholt and, later, Dedham Mill. John was the second son of Golding and Ann Constable but as his elder brother was mentally handicapped, it was left to John to carry on the family business after his father. Constable spent a short amount of time studying at a boarding school at Lavenham, before returning home and enrolling at a day school in Dedham. Constable 's younger brother eventually took over the family business but not without the artist first gaining some experience. This knowledge no doubt influenced Constable in his paintings of the corn industry in rural Suffolk later in life. Constable's first forays into art began as sketches of the Suffolk countryside as a boy, an area that would feature in his art for the rest of his life. He wrote of the county: "(Suffolk) made me a painter, and I am grateful" . As a young boy Constable would draft endless sketches of the Suffolk countryside which so inspired him and often went "Skying" which was the artist's own term for days spent sketching different cloud formations. When Constable was a young man he was introduced to a collector named George Beaumont and this meeting would prove to be highly important in the development of Constable's career as an artist. Beaumont showed Constable his prized Landscape with Hagar and the Angel by Claude Lorrain. Lorrain's influence on Constable is clear to see in his paintings and he was considered by many to be the most accomplished landscape painter pre-19th century. Another great influence for Constable was trained artist John Thomas Smith who he was introduced to while visiting relatives. Smith advised him on painting but also urged him to remain in his father's business rather than take up art professionally. Luckily for the art world Constable chose to ignore this advice and in 1803, he was exhibiting his first paintings at the Royal Academy.

John Constable Middle Years

Maria Bicknell Mrs John Constable

Constable married Maria Bicknell on October 1816 at St Martin-in-the-Fields. Between the two a childhood friendship had blossomed into a romantic attachment, however, their engagement was opposed by Maria's grandfather, Dr. Rhudde, who threatened Maria with disinheritance after finding Constable to be socially and monetarily inferior. It wasn't until the death of Constable's father that the artist received an allowance which meant the two lovers could support themselves and marry. Although he chose not to take on other employment, Constable did not sell a painting until The White Horse in 1819. This success lead to a series of "six footers" , as he referred to his large-scale paintings. In 1821 Constable showed The Hay Wain at the Royal Academy's exhibition and was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy that same year. This recognition did not mean that Constable was accepted as a great painter in England. In fact, quite the opposite; his loose style of painting and devotion to nature lead to much criticism. It was in France that Constable first made his name as a painter. A show in Paris led to the French King, Charles X awarding the artist the Gold Medal of the exhibition and Constable's work began to influence artists in the city such as Delacroix and Corot. Although Constable was so hugely successful in France, he never travelled outside of his native England.

John Constable Advanced Years

The Hay Wain

After the birth of her seventh child in January 1828, Constable's wife Maria fell ill and died of tuberculosis at the age of forty-one. From that point onwards Constable chose to always dress in black and was, according to one friend, "a prey to melancholy and anxious thoughts" . The artist never remarried and cared for his seven children alone for the rest of his life. At the age of 52 Constable was elected into the Royal Academy and in 1831 he was given the title of Visitor at the Royal Academy. Constable was always outspoken in his beliefs and art was a subject he was particularly passionate about. He spoke against the new Gothic Revival movement, which he considered mere "imitation" . In 1835, Constable gave his last lecture to the students of the Royal Academy, in which he praised Raphael and deemed the Royal Academy the "cradle of British art" . Constable died on the night of the 31st March, 1837 apparently from indigestion, and was buried with Maria in the graveyard of St John-at-Hampstead in London.

WebMuseum

Constable, John (1776-1837). English painter, ranked with Turner as one of the greatest British landscape artists.

Although he showed an early talent for art and began painting his native Suffolk scenery before he left school, his great originality matured slowly. He committed himself to a career as an artist only in 1799, when he joined the Royal Academy Schools and it was not until 1829 that he was grudgingly made a full Academician, elected by a majority of only one vote. In 1816 he became financially secure on the death of his father and married Maria Bicknell after a seven-year courtship and in the fact of strong opposition from her family. During the 1820s he began to win recognition: The Hay Wain (National Gallery, London, 1821) won a gold medal at the Paris Salon of 1824 and Constable was admired by Delacroix and Bonington among others. His wife died in 1828, however, and the remaining years of his life were clouded by despondency.

After spending some years working in the picturesque tradition of landscape and the manner of Gainsborough , Constable developed his own original treatment from the attempt to render scenery more directly and realistically, carrying on but modifying in an individual way the tradition inherited from Ruisdael and the Dutch 17th-century landscape painters. Just as his contemporary William Wordsworth rejected what he called the `poetic diction' of his predecessors, so Constable turned away from the pictorial conventions of 18th-century landscape painters, who, he said, were always `running after pictures and seeking the truth at second hand'. Constable thought that `No two days are alike, nor even two hours; neither were there ever two leaves of a tree alike since the creation of the world', and in a then new way he represented in paint the atmospheric effects of changing light in the open air, the movement of clouds across the sky, and his excited delight at these phenomena, stemming from a profound love of the country: `The sound of water escaping from mill dams, willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts and brickwork, I love such things. These scenes made me a painter.'

He never went abroad, and his finest works are of the places he knew and loved best, particularly Suffolk and Hampstead, where he lived from 1821. To render the shifting flicker of light and weather he abandoned fine traditional finish, catching the sunlight in blobs of pure white or yellow, and the drama of storms with a rapid brush. Henry Fuseli was among the contemporaries who applauded the freshness of Constable's approach, for C. R. Leslie records him as saying: `I like de landscapes of Constable; he is always picturesque, of a fine color, and de lights always in de right places; but he makes me call for my great coat and umbrella.'

Constable worked extensively in the open air, drawing and sketching in oils, but his finished pictures were produced in the studio. For his most ambitious works--`six-footers' as he called them--he followed the unusual technical procedure of making a full-size oil sketch, and in the 20th century there has been a tendancy to praise these even more highly than the finished works because of their freedom and freshness of brushwork. (The full-size sketch for The Hay Wain is in the V&A, London, which has the finest collection of Constable's work.)

In England Constable had no real sucessor and the many imitators (who included his son Lionel , 1825-87) turned rather to the formal compositions than to the more direct sketches. In France, however, he was a major influence on Romantics such as Delacroix, on the painters of the Barbizon School, and ultimately on the Impressionists .

Image

Photographs by Mark Harden .

john constable biography

John Constable

Works by john constable at sotheby's.

john constable biography

John Constable Biography

English artist John Constable was an innovative landscape painter who depicted the English countryside through relatively loose brushwork, developing a soft visual atmosphere. His technique of en-plein-air painting predated the Impressionists, who later popularized the method of painting outside rather than in a studio. Constable synthesized the Romanticism of Thomas Gainsborough with the serenity of Dutch landscape painting, and took additional inspiration from the Baroque styles of Claude Lorrain or Nicolas Poussin to produce a pioneering landscape style of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.

Born in East Bergholt, England, in 1776, Constable was largely a self-taught artist, though he eventually enrolled at the Royal Academy in London in 1800 where he studied the works of Peter Paul Rubens, Annibale Carracci and Jacob van Ruisdael. His works exhibited a fresh lightness that was in opposition to the contemporary popular trends of Romanticism and Neoclassicism, and he continually insisted that painters should work from nature rather than from their own imaginations or explorations of psychology. Constable developed his personal style by using broken brushstrokes in order to achieve glistening or seemingly moving light – an effect that would become an early influence on the Impressionists. Though he had difficulty selling his works in England, his work was well received at the French salons where his relative success allowed him to sell increasingly larger canvases. Such sales would ultimately finance his major paintings for which he is now best known, including The Hay Wain (1821), which greatly influenced the French masters Théodore Géricault and Eugène Delacroix. Despite his success in Paris, he preferred developing his career in his native England, and he was happily elected to the Royal Academy in 1829.

Constable’s plein-air painting and relatively experimental brushwork, with which he documented the realities of the English countryside and scenes of everyday life, significantly influenced the development of western Modernism in Paris. His works can be found in major collections including the Louvre Museum, Paris, the National Gallery, London, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, among others.

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COMMENTS

  1. John Constable

    Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh In 1799, Constable persuaded his father to let him pursue a career in art, and Golding granted him a small allowance. Entering the Royal Academy Schools as a probationer, he attended life classes and anatomical dissections, and studied and copied old masters.

  2. John Constable

    John Constable (born June 11, 1776, East Bergholt, Suffolk, England—died March 31, 1837, London) major figure in English landscape painting in the early 19th century.

  3. John Constable Paintings, Bio, Ideas

    British Painter Born: June 11, 1776 - East Bergholt, Suffolk, England Died: March 31, 1837 - London, England Movements and Styles: Romanticism , The Sublime in Art , Landscape Painters , British Art John Constable Summary Accomplishments

  4. Biography of John Constable, British Landscape Painter

    Learn about the life and work of John Constable, one of the most prominent British landscape painters of the 1800s. He painted directly from nature, introduced scientific detail to his work, and influenced impressionism. Find out his early training, rise to fame, later career, and selected works.

  5. John Constable (1776

    Constable was born in East Bergholt, Suffolk. He was largely self-taught, and developed slowly. In 1799 he was a probationer, and in 1800 a student at the Royal Academy schools. He exhibited from 1802 at the Royal Academy in London, and later at the Paris Salon. He influenced the Barbizon School and the French Romantic movement.

  6. John Constable (1776-1837)

    Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History Essays John Constable (1776-1837) Mrs. James Pulham Sr. (Frances Amys, ca. 1766-1856) John Constable Hampstead Heath with Bathers John Constable Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds John Constable Summer Morning David Lucas Elizabeth E. Barker

  7. John Constable Biography

    Learn about the life and art of John Constable, a renowned British painter of the landscape. Find out how he captured a romantic view of the countryside, influenced by Dutch and Classic Masters, and died at 58.

  8. BBC

    Learn about the life and work of John Constable, one of the major English landscape painters of the 19th century. Find out how he captured the changing skies and effects of light in his paintings of the Suffolk countryside, Salisbury, Brighton and Hampstead.

  9. John Constable 1776-1837

    Constable was born at East Bergholt, Suffolk, the son of a corn and coal merchant and farmer. He devoted much of his life to painting the local landscape, the scenes of his 'careless boyhood' which, he said, 'made me a painter' (in R.B. Beckett, ed., John Constable's Correspondence, VI, Ipswich 1968, p.78).

  10. John Constable

    Born at East Bergholt in Suffolk, John Constable (1776 - 1837) was the fourth child of Golding and Ann Constable. In 1792 he began work in the flourishing family business, trading and transporting corn and coal on and around the River Stour.

  11. John Constable Biography With All Details

    John Constable (11 June 1776 - 31 March 1837) was born in East Bergholt, a village on the River Stour in Suffolk, to Golding and Ann Constable. His father was a wealthy corn merchant, owner of Flatford Mill in East Bergholt and, later, Dedham Mill.

  12. John Constable

    John Constable - Landscape Painter, Romanticism, England: Constable was a significant painter during a period when landscape was a dominant genre in British art.

  13. John Constable

    Learn about the life and works of John Constable, one of the most famous artists in English history. From his early struggles to his success in France, discover how he revolutionized the art of landscape painting and elevated it to the esteemed art form it is today.

  14. Constable, John, 1776-1837

    John Constable (1776-1837) (Born East Bergholt, Suffolk, 11 June 1776; died Hampstead, Middlesex [now in London], 31 March/1 April 1837). English painter, ranked with his contemporary Turner as one of the two greatest figures in the history of British landscape painting. Both of them brought a new freedom and inventiveness to their subject ...

  15. Artist Info

    John Constable British, 1776 - 1837 Biography Works of Art Artist Bibliography Biography Born in East Bergholt, Suffolk on 11 June 1776, Constable was the second son of the six children of Golding Constable and Ann Watts.

  16. John Constable

    John Constable Biography. Landscape with Hagar and the Angel. Claude Lorrain. John Thomas Smith. London. Maria Bicknell Mrs John Constable. John Constable. The Hay Wain. John Constable. Early years: John Constable was born in 1776 to a wealthy corn merchant's family in East Bergholt, Suffolk, England. Although his father was keen for his son to ...

  17. John Constable

    John Constable, RA (/ˈkʌnstəbəl, ˈkɒn-/; 11 June 1776 - 31 March 1837) was an English Romantic painter. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home — now known as "Constable Country" — which he invested with an intensity of affection.

  18. John Constable Biography

    Email: [email protected] / Phone: +44 7429 011000 Discover the route to stardom of the exceptional landscape painter, John Constable, in this detailed biography. Early Life Constable was born into a wealthy family. His father, Golding, owned Flatford Mill and Dedham Mill and was a hugely successful and influential com merchant.

  19. John Constable Biography

    John Constable Biography Full Name: John Constable Short Name: Constable Date of Birth: 11 Jun 1776 Date of Death: 31 Mar 1837 Focus: Paintings Mediums: Oil, Watercolor Subjects: Landscapes Art Movement: Romanticism Hometown: East Bergholt, United Kingdom John Constable Biography Page's Content Introduction Early Years Middle Years Advanced Years

  20. John Constable

    By 1817 Constable was an established Londoner, and, with the birth of his son John that December, he became a father. With a family to support, professional recognition became essential. In order to achieve this, he began to paint on a large scale, and the 1.9-metre (6.2-foot) Stour scene The White Horse, which he showed at the 1819 Royal ...

  21. WebMuseum: Constable, John

    Constable, John. Constable, John (1776-1837). English painter, ranked with Turner as one of the greatest British landscape artists. Although he showed an early talent for art and began painting his native Suffolk scenery before he left school, his great originality matured slowly. He committed himself to a career as an artist only in 1799, when ...

  22. John Constable

    John Constable Biography. English artist John Constable was an innovative landscape painter who depicted the English countryside through relatively loose brushwork, developing a soft visual atmosphere. His technique of en-plein-air painting predated the Impressionists, who later popularized the method of painting outside rather than in a studio ...

  23. John Constable

    John Constable was a renowned British painter known for his weather-filled depictions of the British countryside. View John Constable's 838 artworks on artnet. Find an in-depth biography, exhibitions, original artworks for sale, the latest news, and sold auction prices. See available paintings, works on paper, and prints and multiples for sale and learn about the artist.