John Constable(1776 — 1837)
John Constable
Royaume-Uni, royaume de Grande-Bretagne, Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et d'Irlande
9 min read
John Constable (1776-1837) was a major English Romantic landscape painter. He revolutionized landscape painting by observing nature directly and depicting atmospheric effects with great fidelity.
Frequently asked questions
Famous Quotes
« Painting is a science, and should be pursued as an inquiry into the laws of nature.»
« The sky is the chief organ of sentiment.»
Key Facts
- 1776: Born in East Bergholt, Suffolk
- 1821: Submission of The Hay Wain to the Paris Salon, influencing French painters
- 1824: The Hay Wain wins a gold medal at the Paris Salon
- 1829: Elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in London
- 1837: Dies in London
Works & Achievements
Constable's absolute masterpiece, depicting a cart crossing the River Stour near Flatford Mill. Awarded a medal at the Paris Salon in 1824, this painting is now held at the National Gallery in London and is considered one of the most important works in British art.
The first of six large paintings devoted to the River Stour, known as 'six-footers' for their imposing scale. Acquired by his friend John Fisher, this canvas marked the beginning of Constable's public recognition at the Royal Academy.
A view of the family mill on the Stour, painted with remarkable precision and atmospheric freshness. It perfectly illustrates Constable's method: direct observation and faithful rendering of the effects of light and water.
A landscape depicting a Suffolk country lane lined with trees, with a boy drinking from a stream in the foreground. Bequeathed to the National Gallery upon the painter's death, it is now one of his most widely recognized works.
A large composition showing the Gothic cathedral beneath a dramatic rainbow sky. Constable displays his full mastery of atmospheric effects, simultaneously painting an intimate work dedicated to his friend Fisher and a manifesto of his artistic philosophy.
A series of small oil paintings made outdoors on Hampstead Heath, documenting cloud formations with near-scientific precision. Annotated on the reverse with meteorological data, these studies demonstrate Constable's innovative approach and foreshadow the Impressionists' explorations of light.
Anecdotes
In 1824, Constable exhibited three paintings at the Paris Salon, including *The Hay Wain*. The work won a gold medal and drew the admiration of Delacroix, who hastily reworked his own painting *The Massacre at Chios* to incorporate Constable's broken-light technique. This encounter between English and French painting transformed the history of art.
Constable was so obsessed with clouds that he produced hundreds of small-format oil studies of them. On the back of each sketch he noted the wind direction, temperature, and time — an almost scientific approach at a time when modern meteorology did not yet exist. He declared that “the sky is the chief organ of sentiment” in a landscape.
His relationship with Maria Bicknell lasted twelve years before they could marry in 1816. Maria's grandfather, Dr. Rhudde, a wealthy and influential rector, opposed the union with a mere country painter. Constable waited patiently, and the couple eventually married — but Maria died in 1828, aged 41, of tuberculosis, leaving the painter heartbroken for the rest of his life.
Constable was not elected a full member of the Royal Academy until 1829, at the age of 52 — a late age for an artist of his reputation. His rival J. M. W. Turner had been an academician since 1802. It is reported that Constable himself remarked with some humor that he had waited a long time for recognition that had seemed obvious to him for years.
To give his paintings their shimmering, luminous quality, Constable added small touches of pure white to the nearly dry surface of his canvases — a technique his contemporaries dismissively called “Constable's snow.” This method, considered strange or untidy at the time, is today regarded as one of the most important innovations in nineteenth-century painting.
Primary Sources
"I will never paint anything that I do not feel myself. The great sin of modern painting is that it seeks to make an effect rather than to express the truth."
Constable explains his approach: to represent nature as it is, with its shifting lights, moving skies, and moist atmosphere, without idealising it in the manner of the classical landscape painters.
"Painting is a science and should be pursued as an inquiry into the laws of nature. Why, then, may it not be considered as a branch of natural philosophy, of which pictures are but the experiments?"
"These scenes make me so happy when I am there — the old Stour and its banks — I love them with a love that makes me weep while painting them."
Key Places
Constable's birthplace, situated in the Stour Valley. It was here that the painter spent his childhood and developed his profound love for the English countryside, which remained the primary source of inspiration throughout his entire body of work.
A mill belonging to the Constable family, on the River Stour. This iconic location is the setting for *The Hay Wain* and several other masterpieces; now a listed site known as "Constable Country," it welcomes thousands of visitors every year.
From 1819 onwards, Constable regularly stayed at Hampstead with his family for Maria's health. It was on this elevated heath that he produced most of his celebrated cloud studies, tirelessly observing the ever-changing sky above London.
The institution where Constable trained from 1799 and regularly exhibited his works throughout his career. It was here that he showed his large annual canvases and was finally elected a full Academician in 1829.
In 1824, Constable exhibited *The Hay Wain* there alongside other canvases, winning a gold medal. The enthusiastic reception from the French public and artists paved the way for the Barbizon movement and, indirectly, for Impressionism.
Constable painted Salisbury Cathedral on several occasions, at the invitation of his friend Archdeacon John Fisher. His large canvas *Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows* (1831), set beneath a dramatic rainbow sky, is one of his most ambitious compositions.
