John Constable 1776-1837

John Constable 1776-1837 Self portrait in pencil

 The 250^th anniversary of the birth of one of Britain’s most beloved artists, John Constable, is near, the important date being June 11, and there are various celebratory exhibitions in both Suffolk and in London. [See below] His views of rural England are treasured as the embodiment

Boat building near Flatford.

of the nostalgic essence of life then enjoyed. They picture our imagined way of life then prevalent, in picture-perfect country scenes far removed, it must be said, from the hardship and squalor often experienced by much of the population, both in town and country. 

Constable found inspiration locally; in places familiar to him from childhood; the local village church; the mill his father owned in Flatford; the tow paths and lock gates of the canalised River Stour, and the wooded lane down which he had once walked to school in Dedham. In his youth, Constable enjoyed amateur sketching trips in the surrounding Suffolk and Essex countryside which he grew to love. He felt that these familiar and beloved scenes “made me a painter and I am grateful.” He listed, “the sounds of water escaping from mill dams etc. willow, old rotten planks, slimy posts and brickwork. I love such things.” Such everyday sights would not normally have been considered worthy of artistic endeavour but Constable was determined to prove otherwise.

The Vale of Dedham 1822

The Cornfield  1806

Although he might have been expected to take over his father’s business,  in 1799 John managed to persuade him (Golding Constable) to let John pursue a career in art while granting his son a small allowance to permit this life choice. Entering the Royal Academy Schools as a probationer, Constable attended life classes and anatomical dissections while studying and copying the old masters. He found works by such well-known artists as Gainsborough, Lorrain, Rubens, Carracci and van Ruisdael, particularly inspiring. In 1802 he refused the position of Drawing Master at Great Marlow Military College [now Sandhurst] to concentrate on establishing his main career. 

Around the same time, he wrote to painter, John Dunthorne, articulating his determination to become a professional landscape painter. “For the last two years I have been running after pictures and seeking

The Hay Wain 1821

the truth at second hand. ….  I have tried to make my performances look like the work of other men. There is room enough for a natural painter.” His early style shared many qualities of his later mature work, including a freshness of light and subtlety of colour, and exhibits the influence of the old masters, especially the work of Claude Lorrain. But his usual subjects, scenes of ordinary daily life, were unfashionable in an age that looked for more romantic visions of wild landscapes and ruins.

Constable was, however, desperate to become a Royal Academician but he could see that his modest rural landscapes could easily be overlooked.  He attempted to persuade the art world to take him more seriously by upsizing! Starting in 1819 he began to paint canvases that were much larger than hitherto, scaling up his Suffolk landscapes into oils that were six feet wide. Despite their modest subject matter, the ‘six-footers’ as he called them, were eye-catching and impactful and made even mundane scenes of boats and barge horses seem monumental. These huge canvases were difficult for him to accomplish but proved to be a winning formula in his quest for fame. Thanks to masterpieces such as The White Horse (1819), The Hay Wain (1821) and The Leaping Horse (1825) Constable made a name for himself as a specialist in landscapes that sparkled with vitality and freshness, in the process of which he immortalised the Stour Valley so that, in his lifetime, the Suffolk/Essex border became known as ‘Constable Country’, a fond tribute still heard today.

The Low Lighthouse and Beacon Hill. 1820

By the time he was in his late 40s, dark clouds had begun to gather in Constable’s personal life. His wife, Maria, was 
suffering from the disease that plagued the period: tuberculosis. With the hope that sea air might improve her health, the family moved to Brighton, and the foreboding Constable felt at this time is communicated within the coastal studies he painted on the beach which depict a shaft of light being obliterated by an incoming wall of rain, and which seem to capture his troubled state of mind. Meanwhile, the immediate family situation was hopeless, and Maria died in 1828. Profoundly affected by her loss, Constable’s later works are notable for their change in outlook. The blue skies and summer sunshine that had characterised his childhood remembrances gave way to storms and shadows. He also went on to experiment with printmaking, converting many of his paintings into darker, moodier versions in black and white mezzotint that reflected his grief and anxiety.

Constable's wife, Maria Bicknell who died
of T.B. in 1828.

Maria Constable with two of her children. 1822

Rainstorm over the Sea 1824/28 View from Brighton.

Cloud study 1822
Constable believed that the sky was 'the chief
organ of sentiment' for a painting. It set the tone
for the rest of the picture. 

Curr Curr CurrCurrent Exhibitions. ChrisCristchurch Mansion in Ipswich is hosting not one but three exhibitions: Constable: A Cast of Characters (until 14 June), The Hay Wain: Walking Constable’s Landscape (11 July–4 October) and Constable to Contemporary (24 October 2026–28 February 2027) Step into Constable’s world at the National Trust’s site in Flatford. The Trust has teamed up with Essex Cultural Diversity Project to commission artists Tom Hobden and Phoebe Stapleton on an exhibition and participation project inspired by Constable, titled The Rivers and Skies Gainsborough, Turner & Constable: Inventing Landscape is on at Gainsborough’s House in Sudbury until 11 October John Constable and David Lucas: A Unison of Feeling is a display exploring the artist’s print series, English Landscape Scenery, at V&A South Kensington until 14 June