The images and information presented below are for the instruction of students and scholarly research.
John Constable
(1776-1837)
John Constable was born in 1776 in East
Bergholt, Suffolk. He is remembered as one of the
greatest British landscape artists.
Constable displayed art talent at a young age, but he
did not wholeheartedly pursue a career as an artist. He
worked in the family business for a while. In fact, he
didn’t make the decision to follow the career path until
he was 23. At this time, he joined the Royal Academy
Schools.
Constable had been painting landscapes, but his success
did not come easily. He could only find occasional
buyers for his paintings. Although his parents gave him
money to live on, he began doing portraits.
Golding Constable's Flower Garden,
1815
In 1816, his
father died, leaving him enough money to be financially
secure. Constable was also married this year. He had
dated Maria Bicknell for 7 years. The two were married
despite her family’s disapproval.
Maria Bicknell
It wasn’t until the
1820s that Constable’s work began to receive
recognition. In 1824, he won a gold medal at the Paris
Salon. Others began to admire his work.
The Admiral's House, 1820-1823
Coal Brigs on Brighton Beach, 1824
Unfortunately,
Constable’s wife died in 1828. This had a huge impact on
his demeanor. He became depressed and subdued. It was a
personality change that would linger for the rest of his
life.
Constable never traveled overseas. He painted, instead,
places he knew well. He produced large compositions that
attracted attention not only for their artistic merit,
but also for their sheer size alone.
Constable died in 1837 leaving a legacy of unique
artwork. Constable’s work shows influences of the Dutch
17th century landscape painters, but his style was
distinctly his own. He attempted to portray landscapes
more realistically and directly. He had a very
innovative way of using paint to take on the appearance
of light or movement of clouds across the sky. He
rejected common finishes, using globs of plain white or
bright yellow paint for sunlight. If he was depicting a
stormy, tempestuous day, he always painted the scene
with a quick brush. The fresh approach infused his
paintings with life.
Cathedral
Haywain
Before completing a
painting, Constable usually made a full size oil sketch.
Today, these sketches are actually more highly desired
than the finished paintings. They have been praised for
their uninhibited brushwork.
It’s extremely rare to find an authentic John Constable
painting that is in good condition. However, it has
happened before. In recent years, a painting was
discovered by a woman who remarked that the particular
piece of artwork had been in her family since World War
I. The painting auctioned for nearly half of a million
dollars.
