John Constable (1825–1892)
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John Constable (; 11 June 1776 – 31 March 1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romantic tradition. Born in
Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...
, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of
landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction in painting of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, rivers, trees, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a cohe ...
V&A: John Constable - an introduction
/ref> 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 Wivenhoe Park is a landscaped green space of more than at the eastern edge of Colchester, England. It is the site of Wivenhoe House, a four-star hotel, based in an eighteenth-century Grade II listed house. Wivenhoe House is also home to the Ed ...
'' (1816), '' Dedham Vale'' (1828) and ''
The Hay Wain ''The Hay Wain'' – originally titled ''Landscape: Noon'' – is a painting by John Constable, completed in 1821, which depicts a rural scene on the River Stour, Suffolk, River Stour between the English counties of Suffolk and Essex. It hangs ...
'' (1821). Although his paintings are now among the most popular and valuable in
British art The art of the United Kingdom refers to all forms of visual art in or associated with the country since the formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707 and encompasses English art, Scottish art, Welsh art and Irish art, and forms part ...
, he was never financially successful. He was elected to the
Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
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.


Early career

John Constable was born in
East Bergholt East Bergholt is a village in the Babergh District of Suffolk, England, just north of the Essex border. The nearest town and railway station is Manningtree, Essex. East Bergholt is north of Colchester and south of Ipswich. Schools include E ...
, a village on the River Stour in Suffolk, to Golding and Ann (Watts) Constable. His father was a wealthy corn merchant, owner of
Flatford Mill Flatford Mill is a Grade I listed watermill on the River Stour at Flatford in East Bergholt, Suffolk, England. According to the date-stone the mill was built in 1733, but some of the structure may be earlier. Attached to the mill is a 17th-ce ...
in East Bergholt and, later, Dedham Mill in
Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...
. Golding Constable owned a small ship, ''The Telegraph'', which he moored at
Mistley Mistley is a village and civil parish in the Tendring district of northeast Essex, England. It is around 11 miles northeast of Colchester and is east of, and almost contiguous with, Manningtree. The parish consists of Mistley and New Mistley, ...
on the Stour estuary, and used to transport corn to London. He was a cousin of the London tea merchant,
Abram Newman Abram (or Abraham) Newman (1736–1799) was one of the wealthiest men in 18th century London. He spent his life as a partner in one of the leading grocers, importing a wide range of produce including tea, coffee, sugar and spices. Life Abram wa ...
. Although Constable was his parents' second son, his older brother was
intellectually disabled Intellectual disability (ID), also known as general learning disability (in the United Kingdom), and formerly mental retardation (in the United States), Rosa's Law, Pub. L. 111-256124 Stat. 2643(2010).Archive is a generalized neurodevelopmental ...
and John was expected to succeed his father in the business. After a brief period at a boarding school in
Lavenham Lavenham is a village, civil parish and Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, electoral ward in the Babergh District, Babergh district, in the county of Suffolk, England. It is noted for its Lavenham Guildhall, Guildhall, Little ...
, he was enrolled in a day school in Dedham, Essex. Constable worked in the corn business after leaving school, but his younger brother Abram eventually took over the running of the mills. In his youth, Constable embarked on amateur sketching trips in the surrounding Suffolk and Essex countryside, which was to become the subject of a large proportion of his art. These scenes, in his own words, "made me a painter, and I am grateful"; "the sound of water escaping from mill dams etc., willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork, I love such things." He was introduced to
George Beaumont Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet (6 November 1753 – 7 February 1827) was a British art patron and amateur painter. He played a crucial part in the creation of London's National Gallery, London, National Gallery by making the first be ...
, a collector, who showed him his prized ''Hagar and the Angel'' by
Claude Lorrain Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in I ...
, which inspired Constable. Later, while visiting relatives in
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
, he was introduced to the professional artist John Thomas Smith, who advised him on painting but also urged him to remain in his father's business rather than take up art professionally. 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 The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
as a probationer, he attended
life classes ''Life Classes'' is a 1987 Canadian drama film directed by William D. MacGillivray. Plot Mary Cameron (Cormier) lives on the Canadian island of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. There, she enjoys a warm relationship with an old woman she calls Nanny ( ...
and anatomical dissections, and studied and copied
old masters In art history, "Old Master" (or "old master")Old Masters De ...
. Among works that particularly inspired him during this period were paintings by
Thomas Gainsborough Thomas Gainsborough (; 14 May 1727 (baptised) – 2 August 1788) was an English portrait and landscape painter, draughtsman, and printmaker. Along with his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds, he is considered one of the most important British artists o ...
,
Claude Lorrain Claude Lorrain (; born Claude Gellée , called ''le Lorrain'' in French; traditionally just Claude in English; c. 1600 – 23 November 1682) was a French painter, draughtsman and etcher of the Baroque era. He spent most of his life in I ...
,
Peter Paul Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens ( ; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish painting, Flemish artist and diplomat. He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque painting, Flemish Baroque tradition. Rubens' highly charged comp ...
,
Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci ( , , ; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother Agostino Carracci, Agostino and cousin Ludovico Carracci, Ludovico (with whom the Ca ...
and
Jacob van Ruisdael Jacob Isaackszoon van Ruisdael (;  1629 – 10 March 1682) was a Dutch painter, draughtsman, and etcher. He is generally considered the pre-eminent landscape painter of the Dutch Golden Age, a period of great wealth and cultural achie ...
. He also read widely among poetry and sermons, and later proved a notably articulate artist. In 1802 he refused the position of drawing master at Great Marlow Military College (now Sandhurst), a move which
Benjamin West Benjamin West (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as ''The Death of Nelson (West painting), The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the ''Treaty of Paris ( ...
(then master of the RA) counselled would mean the end of his career. In that year, Constable wrote a letter to John Dunthorne in which he spelled out his determination to become a professional landscape painter: His early style has many qualities associated with his mature work, including a freshness of light, colour and touch, and reveals the compositional influence of the old masters he had studied, notably of Claude Lorrain. Constable's usual subjects, scenes of ordinary daily life, were unfashionable in an age that looked for more romantic visions of wild landscapes and ruins. He made occasional trips farther afield. By 1803, he was exhibiting paintings at the Royal Academy. In April he spent almost a month aboard the
East Indiaman East Indiamen were merchant ships that operated under charter or licence for European trading companies which traded with the East Indies between the 17th and 19th centuries. The term was commonly used to refer to vessels belonging to the Bri ...
as it visited south-east ports while sailing from London to Deal before leaving for China. In 1806 Constable undertook a two-month tour of the Lake District. He told his friend and biographer, Charles Leslie, that the solitude of the mountains oppressed his spirits, and Leslie wrote: Constable adopted a routine of spending winter in London and painting at East Bergholt in summer. In 1811 he first visited
John Fisher John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Rochester from 1504 to 1535 and as chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is honoured as a martyr and saint by the Catholic Chu ...
and his family in
Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
, a city whose cathedral and surrounding landscape were to inspire some of his greatest paintings. To make ends meet, Constable took up
portraiture A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...
, which he found dull, though he executed many fine portraits. He also painted occasional religious pictures but, according to John Walker, "Constable's incapacity as a religious painter cannot be overstated." Another source of income was country house painting. In 1816, he was commissioned by Major-General
Francis Slater Rebow General Francis Slater Rebow (born Francis Slater; 1770 – 7 October 1845) was a British Army officer and patron of the artist John Constable. Having joined the army in 1787, he served with the 60th Regiment of Foot in the West Indies, fight ...
to paint his country home, '' Wivenhoe Park, Essex''. The Major-General also commissioned a smaller painting of the fishing lodge in the grounds of Alresford Hall, which is now in the
National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...
. Constable used the money from these commissions towards his wedding with Maria Bicknell. This period of Constable's painting is heavily populated with idyllic country scenes with heavy detail, notably his 1816 work '' The Wheat Field''.


Marriage

From 1809, his childhood friendship with Maria Elizabeth Bicknell developed into a deep, mutual love. Their marriage in 1816 when Constable was 40 was opposed by Maria's grandfather, Dr. Rhudde, rector of East Bergholt. He considered the Constables his social inferiors and threatened Maria with disinheritance. Maria's father, Charles Bicknell, solicitor to
George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...
and the Admiralty, was reluctant to see Maria throw away her inheritance. Maria pointed out to John that a penniless marriage would detract from any chances he had of making a career in painting. Golding and Ann Constable, while approving the match, held out no prospect of supporting the marriage until Constable was financially secure. After they died in quick succession, Constable inherited a fifth share in the family business. John and Maria's marriage in October 1816 at
St Martin-in-the-Fields St Martin-in-the-Fields is a Church of England parish church at the north-east corner of Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, London. Dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, there has been a church on the site since at least the medieval pe ...
(with Fisher officiating) was followed by time at Fisher's vicarage and a honeymoon tour of the south coast. The sea at Weymouth and
Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...
stimulated Constable to develop new techniques of brilliant colour and vivacious brushwork. At the same time, a greater emotional range began to be expressed in his art. While on honeymoon, Constable began to experiment with works exploring nature's grandeur, characterized by dominating skies, such as ''Osmington Bay''. Three weeks before their marriage, Constable revealed that he had started work on his most ambitious project to dateTate: Flatford Mill
/ref> In a letter to Maria Bicknell from East Bergholt, he wrote: The picture was '' Flatford Mill (Scene on a Navigable River)''. It was the largest canvas of a working scene on the River Stour that he had worked on to date and the largest he would ever complete largely outdoors.National Gallery of Art: Constable's Great Landscapes
/ref> Constable was determined to paint on a larger scale, his objective not only to attract more attention at the Royal Academy exhibitions but also, it seems, to project his ideas about landscape on a scale more in keeping with the achievements of the classical landscape painters he so admired. Although Flatford Mill failed to find a buyer when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1817, its fine and intricate execution drew much praise, encouraging Constable to move on to the even larger canvases that were to follow.


The ‘Six-Footers’

Although he managed to scrape an income from painting, it was not until 1819 that Constable sold his first important canvas, '' The White Horse'', described by
Charles Robert Leslie Charles Robert Leslie (19 October 1794 – 5 May 1859) was an American genre painter. Biography Leslie was born in London to American parents. When he was five years of age he returned with them to the United States, where they settled in Phila ...
as ''‘on many accounts the most important picture Constable ever painted.Sotheby’s: The White Horse
/ref> The painting (without the frame) sold for the substantial price of 100
guineas The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where m ...
to his friend John Fisher, finally providing Constable with a level of financial freedom he had never before known. ''The White Horse'' marked an important turning point in Constable’s career; its success saw him elected an associate of the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
and it led to a series of six monumental landscapes depicting narratives on the River Stour known as the ‘six-footers’ (named for their scale). The extraordinary size of the works helped Constable attract attention in the competitive space of the Academy's exhibitions. Viewed as ‘the knottiest and most forceful landscapes produced in 19th-century Europe’, for many they are the defining works of the artist's career. The series also includes '' Stratford Mill'', 1820 (
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...
, London); ''
The Hay Wain ''The Hay Wain'' – originally titled ''Landscape: Noon'' – is a painting by John Constable, completed in 1821, which depicts a rural scene on the River Stour, Suffolk, River Stour between the English counties of Suffolk and Essex. It hangs ...
'', 1821 (National Gallery, London); ''
View on the Stour near Dedham ''View on the Stour near Dedham'' is an 1822 landscape painting by the British artist John Constable. It portrays a view on the River Stour near Dedham on the border between Essex and Suffolk. Constable produced many landscapes depicting the are ...
'', 1822 (
Huntington Library and Art Gallery The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington and Arabella Huntington in San Marino, California, United States ...
,
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...
); '' The Lock'', 1824 (''Private Collection''); and ''The Leaping Horse'', 1825 (
Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
). The following year, his second six-footer '' Stratford Mill'' was exhibited. The Examiner described it as having ''‘a more exact look of nature than any picture we have ever seen by an Englishman’''. The painting was a success, acquiring a buyer in the loyal John Fisher, who purchased it for 100 guineas, a price he himself thought too low. Fisher bought the painting for his solicitor and friend, John Pern Tinney. Tinney loved the painting so much, he offered Constable another 100 guineas to paint a companion picture, an offer the artist didn’t take up. Constable's growing popularity in turn led to more lucrative commissions, such as ''Malvern Hall'' (1821,
Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European ...
). In 1821, his most famous painting ''
The Hay Wain ''The Hay Wain'' – originally titled ''Landscape: Noon'' – is a painting by John Constable, completed in 1821, which depicts a rural scene on the River Stour, Suffolk, River Stour between the English counties of Suffolk and Essex. It hangs ...
'' was shown at the Royal Academy's exhibition. Although it failed to find a buyer, it was viewed by some important people of the time, including two Frenchmen, the artist
Théodore Géricault Jean-Louis André Théodore Géricault (; 26 September 1791 – 26 January 1824) was a French painter and lithographer, whose best-known painting is '' The Raft of the Medusa''. Despite his short life, he was one of the pioneers of the Romanti ...
and writer
Charles Nodier Jean Charles Emmanuel Nodier (; 29 April 1780 – 27 January 1844) was a French author and librarian who introduced a younger generation of Romanticists to the ''conte fantastique'', gothic literature, and vampire tales. His dream related writi ...
.National Gallery: The Hay Wain - Description
/ref> According to the painter
Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( ; ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French people, French Romanticism, Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: ...
, Géricault returned to France ’quite stunned‘ by Constable’s painting, while Nodier suggested French artists should also look to nature rather than relying on trips to Rome for inspiration. It was eventually purchased, along with ''View on the Stour near Dedham'', by the Anglo-French dealer John Arrowsmith, in 1824. A small painting '' Yarmouth Jetty'' was added to the bargain by Constable, with the sale totalling £250. Both paintings were exhibited at the Paris Salon that year, where they caused a sensation, with the Hay Wain being awarded a gold medal by
Charles X Charles X may refer to: * Charles X of France (1757–1836) * Charles X Gustav (1622–1660), King of Sweden * Charles, Cardinal de Bourbon (1523–1590), recognized as Charles X of France but renounced the royal title See also * * King Charle ...
. The Hay Wain was later acquired by the collector
Henry Vaughan Henry Vaughan (17 April 1621 – 23 April 1695) was a Welsh metaphysical poet, author and translator writing in English, and a medical physician. His religious poetry appeared in ''Silex Scintillans'' in 1650, with a second part in 1655.''Oxfo ...
who donated it to the
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...
in 1886. Of Constable's colour, Delacroix wrote in his journal: "What he says here about the green of his meadows can be applied to every tone". Delacroix repainted the background of his 1824 '' Massacre de Scio'' after seeing the Constables at Arrowsmith's Gallery, which he said had done him a great deal of good. A number of distractions meant that '' The Lock'' wasn't finished in time for the 1823 exhibition, leaving the much smaller ''
Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds ''Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds'' is an 1823 landscape painting by the English landscape painter John Constable (1776–1837). This image of Salisbury Cathedral, one of England's most famous medieval churches, is one of his most ...
'' as the artist's main entry. This may have occurred after Fisher forwarded Constable the money for the painting. This both helped him out of a financial difficulty and nudged him along to get the painting done. '' The Lock'' was therefore exhibited the following year to more fanfare and sold for 150 guineas on the first day of the exhibition, the only Constable ever to do so. ssSotheby’s: The Lock
/ref> '' The Lock'' is the only upright landscape of the Stour series and the only six-footer that Constable painted more than one version of. A second version now known as the ‘Foster version’ was painted in 1825 and kept by the artist to send to exhibitions. A third, landscape version, known as ''
A Boat Passing a Lock ''A Boat Passing a Lock'' is an 1826 landscape painting by the British artist John Constable. It portrays a scene at Flatford Lock on the River Stour in Suffolk, an area now known as "Constable Country". A brooding, stormy sky is a prominent feat ...
'' (1826) is now in the collection of the Royal Academy of Arts. Constable’s final attempt, ''The Leaping Horse'', was the only six-footer from the Stour series that didn’t sell in Constable’s lifetime.


Later life

Constable’s pleasure at his own success was dampened after his wife started displaying symptoms of
tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...
. Her growing illness meant that Constable took lodgings for his family in
Brighton Brighton ( ) is a seaside resort in the city status in the United Kingdom, city of Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England, south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze Age Britain, Bronze Age, R ...
from 1824 until 1828, in the hope the sea air could restore her health. During this period Constable split his time between Charlotte Street in London and Brighton. This change saw Constable move away from large scale Stour scenes in favour of coastal scenes. He continued painting six-foot canvases, although he was initially unsure of the suitability of Brighton as a subject for painting.Tate: Chain Pier, Brighton
/ref> In a letter to Fisher in 1824 he wrote In his lifetime, Constable sold only 20 paintings in England, but in France he sold more than 20 in just a few years. Despite this, he refused all invitations to travel internationally to promote his work, writing to Francis Darby: "I would rather be a poor man
n England N, or n, is the fourteenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages, and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''en'' (pronounced ), plural ''ens''. History ...
than a rich man abroad." In 1825, perhaps due partly to the worry of his wife's ill-health, the uncongeniality of living in Brighton ("Piccadilly by the seaside"), and the pressure of numerous outstanding commissions, he quarreled with Arrowsmith and lost his French outlet. ''Chain Pier, Brighton'' was his only ambitious six-foot painting of a Brighton subject, it was exhibited in 1827. The Constables persevered in Brighton for five years to aid Maria’s health, but to no avail. After the birth of their seventh child in January 1828, they returned to Hampstead where Maria died on 23 November at the age of 41. Intensely saddened, Constable wrote to his brother Golding, "hourly do I feel the loss of my departed Angel—God only knows how my children will be brought up...the face of the World is totally changed to me". Thereafter, he dressed in black and was, according to Leslie, "a prey to melancholy and anxious thoughts". He cared for his seven children alone for the rest of his life. The children were John Charles, Maria Louisa, Charles Golding, Isobel, Emma, Alfred, and Lionel. Only Charles Golding Constable produced offspring. Several of Constable's children also painted, notably his son Lionel. While Lionel eventually gave up painting for photography, several of his works are within the collection of the
Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European ...
. Shortly before Maria died, her father had also died, leaving her £20,000. Constable speculated disastrously with the money, paying for the engraving of several
mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the intaglio (printmaking), intaglio family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzo ...
s of some of his landscapes in preparation for a publication. He was hesitant and indecisive, nearly fell out with his engraver, and when the folios were published, could not interest enough subscribers. Constable collaborated closely with mezzotinter David Lucas on 40 prints after his landscapes, one of which went through 13 proof stages, corrected by Constable in pencil and paint. Constable said, "Lucas showed me to the public without my faults", but the venture was not a financial success. This period saw his art move from the serenity of its earlier phase, to a more broken and accented style. The turmoil and distress of his mind is clearly seen in his later six-foot masterpieces ''
Hadleigh Castle Hadleigh Castle is a ruined fortification in the English county of Essex, overlooking the Thames Estuary from south of the town of Hadleigh. Built after 1215 during the reign of Henry III by Hubert de Burgh, the castle was surrounded by par ...
'' (1829) and '' Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows'' (1831), which are amongst his most expressive pieces. He was elected to the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
in February 1829, at the age of 52. In 1831 he was appointed Visitor at the Royal Academy, where he seems to have been popular with the students. He began to deliver public lectures on the history of landscape painting, which were attended by distinguished audiences. In a series of lectures at the
Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...
in 1836, Constable proposed a three-fold thesis: firstly, painting "is ''scientific'' as well as ''poetic''"; secondly, "that imagination never did, and never can" produce art to bear comparison with reality; and thirdly, "that no great painter was ever self taught". He also spoke against the new
Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...
movement, which he considered mere "imitation". In 1835, his last lecture to students of the Royal Academy, in which he praised Raphael and called the Academy the "cradle of British art", was "cheered most heartily". He died on the night of 31 March 1837, apparently from heart failure, and was buried with Maria in the graveyard of
St John-at-Hampstead Church St John-at-Hampstead is a Church of England parish church dedicated to St John the Evangelist (though the original dedication was only refined from St John to this in 1917 by the Bishop of London) in Church Row, Hampstead, London. History Ha ...
in
Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...
in London. (His children John Charles Constable and Charles Golding Constable are also buried in this family tomb.)


Locations

Bridge Cottage Bridge Cottage is a 16th-century thatched cottage in Flatford, East Bergholt, Suffolk, England. It has been a National Trust property since 1943 and a Grade II* listed building since 1955. The National Trust market the property under the name ...
is a
National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...
property, open to the public. Nearby
Flatford Mill Flatford Mill is a Grade I listed watermill on the River Stour at Flatford in East Bergholt, Suffolk, England. According to the date-stone the mill was built in 1733, but some of the structure may be earlier. Attached to the mill is a 17th-ce ...
and
Willy Lott's Cottage Willy Lott's Cottage (or Willy Lott's House) is a building in Flatford, East Bergholt, Suffolk, England, which appears in several paintings by John Constable, notably ''The Hay Wain''. The property is a Grade I listed building, reflecting ...
(the house visible in ''
The Hay Wain ''The Hay Wain'' – originally titled ''Landscape: Noon'' – is a painting by John Constable, completed in 1821, which depicts a rural scene on the River Stour, Suffolk, River Stour between the English counties of Suffolk and Essex. It hangs ...
'') are used by the
Field Studies Council Field Studies Council is an educational charity based in the UK, which offers opportunities for people to learn about and engage with the outdoors. History The organisation was established as the Council for the Promotion of Field Studies in ...
for courses. The largest collection of original Constable paintings outside London is on display at
Christchurch Mansion Christchurch Mansion is a substantial Tudor brick mansion house built in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, by Edmund Withypoll (also written "Withipoll") around 1548–1550. The Grade I listed building is located within Christchurch Park and sits b ...
in Ipswich.
Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. It began admitting men in 1994. The colle ...
is in possession of a portrait by Constable.


Art

Constable quietly rebelled against the artistic culture that taught artists to use their imagination to compose their pictures rather than nature itself. He told Leslie, "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". Constable attributed his gift 'to all that lay on the Stour river', however, biographer Anthony Bailey attributed his artistic development to the influence of his well to do relative, Thomas Allen and the London contacts he introduced Constable to. Although Constable produced paintings throughout his life for the "finished" picture market of patrons and R.A. exhibitions, constant refreshment in the form of on-the-spot studies was essential to his working method. He was never satisfied with following a formula. "The world is wide", he wrote, "no two days are alike, nor even two hours; neither were there ever two leaves of a tree alike since the creation of all the world; and the genuine productions of art, like those of nature, are all distinct from each other." Constable painted many full-scale preliminary sketches of his landscapes to test the composition in advance of finished pictures. These large sketches, with their free and vigorous brushwork, were revolutionary at the time, and they continue to interest artists, scholars and the general public. The
oil sketch An oil sketch or oil study is an artwork made primarily in oil paint in preparation for a larger, finished work. Originally these were created as preparatory studies or modelli, especially so as to gain approval for the design of a larger commiss ...
es of ''The Leaping Horse'' and ''The Hay Wain'', for example, convey a vigour and expressiveness missing from Constable's finished paintings of the same subjects. Possibly more than any other aspect of Constable's work, the oil sketches reveal him in retrospect to have been an ''
avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
'' painter, one who demonstrated that landscape painting could be taken in a totally new direction. Constable's watercolours were also remarkably free for their time: the almost mystical ''Stonehenge'', 1835, with its double rainbow, is often considered to be one of the greatest watercolours ever painted. When he exhibited it in 1836, Constable appended a text to the title: "The mysterious monument of
Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...
, 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." In addition to the full-scale oil sketches, Constable completed numerous observational studies of landscapes and clouds, determined to become more scientific in his recording of atmospheric conditions. The power of his physical effects was sometimes apparent even in the full-scale paintings which he exhibited in London; ''The Chain Pier'', 1827, for example, prompted a critic to write: "the atmosphere possesses a characteristic humidity about it, that almost imparts the wish for an umbrella". The sketches themselves were the first ever done in oils directly from the subject in the open air, with the notable exception of the oil sketches
Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes Pierre-Henri de Valenciennes (December 6, 1750 – February 16, 1819) was a French painter who was influential in elevating the status of ''En plein air'' (open-air painting). Life & work Valenciennes worked in Rome from 1778 to 1782, where he m ...
made in Rome around 1780. To convey the effects of light and movement, Constable used broken brushstrokes, often in small touches, which he scumbled over lighter passages, creating an impression of sparkling light enveloping the entire landscape. One of the most expressionistic and powerful of all his studies is ''Seascape Study with Rain Cloud'', painted about 1824 at Brighton, which captures with slashing dark brushstrokes the immediacy of an exploding cumulus shower at sea. Constable also became interested in painting rainbow effects, for example in '' Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows'', 1831, and in '' Cottage at East Bergholt'', 1833. To the sky studies he added notes, often on the back of the sketches, of the prevailing weather conditions, direction of light, and time of day, believing that the sky was "the key note, the standard of scale, and the chief organ of sentiment" in a landscape painting. In this habit he is known to have been influenced by the pioneering work of the
meteorologist A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...
Luke Howard Luke Howard (28 November 1772 – 21 March 1864) was a British manufacturing chemist and an amateur meteorologist with broad interests in science. His lasting contribution to science is a nomenclature system for clouds, which he proposed in ...
on the classification of clouds; Constable's annotations of his own copy of ''Researches About Atmospheric Phaenomena'' by Thomas Forster show him to have been fully abreast of meteorological terminology. "I have done a good deal of skying", Constable wrote to Fisher on 23 October 1821; "I am determined to conquer all difficulties, and that most arduous one among the rest". Constable once wrote in a letter to Leslie, "My limited and abstracted art is to be found under every hedge, and in every lane, and therefore nobody thinks it worth picking up". He could never have imagined how influential his honest techniques would turn out to be. Constable's art inspired not only contemporaries like Géricault and Delacroix, but the Barbizon School, and the French
impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by visible brush strokes, open composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating the effects of the passage of time), ordinary subjec ...
of the late nineteenth century. In 2019 two drawings by Constable were found among the possessions of the late playwright and poet,
Christopher Fry Christopher Fry (18 December 1907 – 30 June 2005) was an English poet and playwright. He is best known for his verse dramas, especially '' The Lady's Not for Burning'', which made him a major force in theatre in the 1940s and 1950s. Biograp ...
; the drawings later sold for £60,000 and £32,000 at auction.


Gallery

File:Flatford Mill from the Lock.png, '' Flatford Mill from the Lock'', 1812.
Private collection A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...
File:Constable - Boat-Building near Flatford Mill, 1815, FA.37.jpg, '' Boat-Building Near Flatford Mill'', 1815.
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. File:John Constable - Flatford Mill.jpg, '' Flatford Mill (Scene on a Navigable River)'', c. 1816, oil on canvas,
Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
File:Constable, Stratford Mill.jpg, '' Stratford Mill'', 1820, oil on canvas,
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
File:John Constable - Harwich- The Low Lighthouse and Beacon Hill - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Harwich Lighthouse'', oil on canvas, 1820. File:John Constable - Waterloo Bridge - Google Art Project.jpg, ''
Waterloo Bridge Waterloo Bridge () is a road and foot traffic bridge crossing the River Thames in London, between Blackfriars Bridge and Hungerford Bridge and Golden Jubilee Bridges. Its name commemorates the victory of the British, Dutch and Prussians at the ...
'', oil on canvas, 1820. File:Malvern hall.jpg, ''Malvern Hall'' (1821), oil on canvas, 21 5/16 x 30 13/16 in. (54.1 x 78.3 cm),
Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European ...
File:Distant view.jpg, ''Distant View of Salisbury Cathedral'' (1821), oil on panel, 6 13/16 x 10 1/16 in. (17.3 x 25.6 cm),
Clark Art Institute The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, commonly referred to as the Clark, is an art museum and research institution located in Williamstown, Massachusetts, Williamstown, Massachusetts, United States. Its collection consists of European ...
File:Constable, View on the Stour near Dedham.jpg, ''
View on the Stour near Dedham ''View on the Stour near Dedham'' is an 1822 landscape painting by the British artist John Constable. It portrays a view on the River Stour near Dedham on the border between Essex and Suffolk. Constable produced many landscapes depicting the are ...
'', 1822, oil on canvas,
Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington and Arabella Huntington in San Marino, California, United State ...
,
Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...
File:The Leaping Horse (1825) by John Constable - Google Art Project.jpg, ''
The Leaping Horse ''The Leaping Horse'' is an 1825 landscape painting by the British artist John Constable. It portrays a scene on the River Stour in Constable Country. A tow horse pulling a barge is shown leaping over one of the cattle guard barriers erected to ...
'', 1825, oil on canvas,
Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
File:John Constable - Branch Hill Pond, Hampstead Heath (1820s).jpg, '' Branch Hill Pond, Hampstead Heath'', oil on canvas, 1825 File:John Constable - Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Garden - Google Art Project.jpg, ''
Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds ''Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds'' is an 1823 landscape painting by the English landscape painter John Constable (1776–1837). This image of Salisbury Cathedral, one of England's most famous medieval churches, is one of his most ...
'' c. 1825. As a gesture of appreciation for
John Fisher John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Rochester from 1504 to 1535 and as chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He is honoured as a martyr and saint by the Catholic Chu ...
, the
Bishop of Salisbury The Bishop of Salisbury is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Salisbury in the Province of Canterbury. The diocese covers much of the counties of Wiltshire and Dorset. The Episcopal see, see is in the Salisbur ...
, who commissioned this painting, Constable included the Bishop and his wife in the bottom left corner.
Frick Collection The Frick Collection (colloquially known as the Frick) is an art museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was established in 1935 to preserve the collection of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The collection (museum) ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. File:John Constable - Parham Mill, Gillingham - Google Art Project.jpg, ''
Parham Mill ''Parham Mill'' (or ''Parham Mill, Gillingham'') is an 1826 landscape painting by the English artist John Constable. Constable completed the painting from earlier drawings after the mill burned down in 1825. Background John Constable was born i ...
'', 1826 File:Constable2.jpg, '' Chain Pier, Brighton'', 1826–27, oil on canvas,
Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
File:The Opening of Waterloo Bridge seen from Whitehall Stairs John Constable.jpeg, '' The Opening of Waterloo Bridge'', oil on canvas, c. 1832.
Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. File:John Constable - Sir Richard Steele's Cottage, Hampstead - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Sir Richard Steele's Cottage, Hampstead'', oil on canvas, 1832. File:Arundel Mill and Castle ).jpg, '' Arundel Mill and Castle'', oil on canvas, 1837. File:John Constable carro de feno.jpg, A detail of ''The Hay Wain'' by John Constable, alt=An oil painting of a large steerable cart being drawn by two strong horses through a river


Selected paintings

* ''Dedham Vale'' (1802)
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
, London
*''The Stour'' (1810) – Philadelphia Museum of Art * '' Landscape: Two Boys Fishing'' (1813)
Anglesey Abbey Anglesey Abbey is a National Trust property in the village of Lode, northeast of Cambridge, England. The property includes a country house, built on the remains of a priory, 98 acres (400,000 m2) of gardens and landscaped grounds, and a worki ...
, Cambs, NT
* '' Landscape: Ploughing Scene in Suffolk'' (1814, revised c. 1816 and 1831)
Yale Center for British Art The Yale Center for British Art at Yale University in central New Haven, Connecticut, houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of British art outside the United Kingdom. The collection of paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, rare ...
,
New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...
* '' The Mill Stream, Flatford'' (1814)
Christchurch Mansion Christchurch Mansion is a substantial Tudor brick mansion house built in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, by Edmund Withypoll (also written "Withipoll") around 1548–1550. The Grade I listed building is located within Christchurch Park and sits b ...
,
Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...
*'' The Stour Valley And Dedham Village'' (1814–1815)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...
* '' Boat-Building Near Flatford Mill'' (1815) – Victoria and Albert Museum, London * '' Golding Constable's Flower Garden'' (1815) – Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich * '' Golding Constable's Kitchen Garden'' (1815) – Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich * '' Portrait of Maria Bicknell, Mrs. John Constable'' (1816)
Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...
, London
* '' Wivenhoe Park, Essex'' (1816)
National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art is an art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of charge, the museum was privately established in ...
, Washington, D.C.
* '' The Quarters behind Alresford Hall'' (1816)
National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited art mu ...
, Melbourne
* ''
Flatford Mill Flatford Mill is a Grade I listed watermill on the River Stour at Flatford in East Bergholt, Suffolk, England. According to the date-stone the mill was built in 1733, but some of the structure may be earlier. Attached to the mill is a 17th-ce ...
'' (original title ''Scene on a Navigable River)'' (1816) – Tate Britain, London *''Two Donkeys'' (1816) – Philadelphia Museum of Art * '' Weymouth Bay: Bowleaze Cove and Jordon Hill'' (1816–17)
National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...
, London
* '' A Cottage in a Cornfield'' (1817)
National Museum Cardiff National Museum Cardiff (), formerly known as the National Museum of Wales, is a museum and art gallery in Cardiff, Wales. The museum is part of the wider network of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales. Entry is kept free by a grant from the Wel ...
* '' Weymouth Bay with Approaching Storm'' (1819)
Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
,
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
* '' The White Horse'' (''A Scene on the River Stour'') (1819)
Frick Collection The Frick Collection (colloquially known as the Frick) is an art museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was established in 1935 to preserve the collection of the industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The collection (museum) ...
, New York City
* '' Harwich- The Low Lighthouse and Beacon Hill'' (1820) – Yale Center for British Art, New Haven * ''Hampstead Heath'' (1820)
Fitzwilliam Museum The Fitzwilliam Museum is the art and antiquities University museum, museum of the University of Cambridge. It is located on Trumpington Street opposite Fitzwilliam Street in central Cambridge. It was founded in 1816 under the will of Richard ...
,
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
* '' Dedham Lock and Mill'' (1820) – Victoria and Albert Museum, London * '' Stratford Mill'' (1820) – National Gallery, London * ''
The Hay Wain ''The Hay Wain'' – originally titled ''Landscape: Noon'' – is a painting by John Constable, completed in 1821, which depicts a rural scene on the River Stour, Suffolk, River Stour between the English counties of Suffolk and Essex. It hangs ...
'' (original title ''Landscape: Noon''; 1821) – National Gallery, London * '' The Grove, or the Admiral's House in Hampstead'' (1821–22)
Alte Nationalgalerie The Alte Nationalgalerie ( ''Old National Gallery'') is a listed building on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin, Germany. The gallery was built from 1862 to 1876 by the order of King Frederick William IV of Prussia according to ...
, Berlin
* ''
View on the Stour near Dedham ''View on the Stour near Dedham'' is an 1822 landscape painting by the British artist John Constable. It portrays a view on the River Stour near Dedham on the border between Essex and Suffolk. Constable produced many landscapes depicting the are ...
'' (1822)
The Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington and Arabella Huntington in San Marino, California, United Stat ...
,
San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...
, CA
* ''
Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds ''Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds'' is an 1823 landscape painting by the English landscape painter John Constable (1776–1837). This image of Salisbury Cathedral, one of England's most famous medieval churches, is one of his most ...
'' (1823) – Victoria and Albert Museum, London *'' The Lock'' (1824) – ''Private Collection'' * '' Seascape Study with Rain Clouds'' (1824–25)
Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
, London
* ''Brighton Beach'' (c. 1824–26)
Dunedin Public Art Gallery The Dunedin Public Art Gallery holds the main public art collection of the city of Dunedin, New Zealand. Located in The Octagon in the heart of the city, it is close to the city's public library, Dunedin Town Hall, and other facilities such as ...
, Dunedin
* ''
The Leaping Horse ''The Leaping Horse'' is an 1825 landscape painting by the British artist John Constable. It portrays a scene on the River Stour in Constable Country. A tow horse pulling a barge is shown leaping over one of the cattle guard barriers erected to ...
'' (1825) – Royal Academy of Arts, London * ''
Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds ''Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds'' is an 1823 landscape painting by the English landscape painter John Constable (1776–1837). This image of Salisbury Cathedral, one of England's most famous medieval churches, is one of his most ...
'' (1825) – Frick Collection, New York City * ''
The Cornfield ''The Cornfield'' is an oil painting by the English artist John Constable, completed from January to March 1826 in the artist’s studio. The painting shows a lane leading from East Bergholt toward Dedham, Essex, and depicts a young shepherd b ...
'' (1826) – National Gallery, London * '' Chain Pier, Brighton'' (1827) – Tate Britain, London * '' The Vale of Dedham'' (1828)
National Gallery of Scotland The National (formerly the Scottish National Gallery) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by William Henry Playfa ...
, Edinburgh
* ''
Hadleigh Castle Hadleigh Castle is a ruined fortification in the English county of Essex, overlooking the Thames Estuary from south of the town of Hadleigh. Built after 1215 during the reign of Henry III by Hubert de Burgh, the castle was surrounded by par ...
'' (1829) – Yale Center for British Art and sketch Tate Britain * '' Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows'' (1831) – Tate Britain, London * '' Sir Richard Steele's Cottage, Hampstead'' (1832) – Yale Center for British Art * '' The Opening of Waterloo Bridge'' (1832) – Tate Britain, London * '' The Valley Farm'' (1835) – Tate Britain, London * ''
Stonehenge Stonehenge is a prehistoric Megalith, megalithic structure on Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, England, west of Amesbury. It consists of an outer ring of vertical sarsen standing stones, each around high, wide, and weighing around 25 tons, to ...
'' (1835) – Victoria and Albert Museum, London * '' Hampstead Heath with a Rainbow'' (1836) – Tate Britain, London * '' Cenotaph to the Memory of Sir Joshua Reynolds'' (1836) – National Gallery, London * '' Arundel Mill and Castle'' (c. 1836–37)
Toledo Museum of Art The Toledo Museum of Art is an internationally known art museum located in the Old West End neighborhood of Toledo, Ohio. It houses a collection of more than 30,000 objects. With 45 galleries, it covers 280,000 square feet and is currently in th ...
,
Toledo Toledo most commonly refers to: * Toledo, Spain, a city in Spain * Province of Toledo, Spain * Toledo, Ohio, a city in the United States Toledo may also refer to: Places Belize * Toledo District * Toledo Settlement Bolivia * Toledo, Or ...
, OH


Notes


Bibliography

* * * * * * * * * * * *
Kindle
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


External links

* * John Constable
Sketch for Hadleigh Castle c1828
– Great Works of Western Art
A gallery of Constable's cloud studies

Web feature
from
Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

Constable's Great Landscapes: The Six-Foot Paintings at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC


* ttp://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/c/constables-oil-sketches/ Constable's Oil Sketches
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

A Sketchbook by Constable
Victoria and Albert Museum
List of works held by the Victoria and Albert Museum

390 paintings by John Constable at www.John-Constable.org

Gallery of Constable Paintings at MuseumSyndicate

Portraits by the artist as a young man: Constable's parents finally identified, ''The Guardian'', March 4, 2009''Memoirs of the Life of John Constable'', ed C. R. Leslie 1843''Romanticism & the school of nature : nineteenth-century drawings and paintings from the Karen B. Cohen collection''
fully digitized text from The Metropolitan Museum of Art libraries
Charles Rhyne Archive
- Research on John Constable {{DEFAULTSORT:Constable, John Burials at St John-at-Hampstead English landscape painters English romantic painters English watercolourists Artists from Brighton People from East Bergholt Royal Academicians 1776 births 1837 deaths 18th-century English painters English male painters 19th-century English painters People from Dedham, Essex Rother Valley artists 18th-century English male artists