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John Constable RA was an English landscape painter in the Romantic tradition. He is known for revolutionizing the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home – now known as Constable Country. Constable's most famous paintings include Wivenhoe Park (1816), Dedham Vale (1828), and The Hay Wain (1821). His work was embraced in France, where he sold more than in his native England and inspired the Barbizon school. Constable was inspired by the landscape of his native countryside rather than the mountainous scenery favored by the Romantics. He is famous for his landscapes, which are mostly of the Suffolk countryside, where he was born and lived.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Genre | Landscape painting |
| Style | Oil on canvas, watercolour, graphic media, oil sketches |
| Subjects | English countryside, nature, weather, light, time of day, rural economy, River Stour, Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home |
| Techniques | Brilliant colour, vivacious brushwork, dominating skies, remarkable precision of touch, accuracy in description, use of palette knife |
| Inspiration | Sir George Beaumont, Claude Lorrain, Dutch artists such as Jacob van Ruisdael, Peter Paul Rubens, Turner |
| Notable works | The White Horse, The Hay Wain, Wivenhoe Park, Dedham Vale, Boatbuilding, Flatford Mill, Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Ground, Stonehenge, Old Sarum |
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What You'll Learn
Landscapes of Suffolk and the English countryside
John Constable RA (1776–1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romantic tradition. He was born in East Bergholt, Suffolk, and is best known for his paintings of the English countryside, particularly those of his native valley of the River Stour, an area that came to be known as "Constable Country".
Constable's childhood surroundings and his understanding of its rural economy would later figure prominently in his work. As he wrote in 1821, "I should paint my own places best... I associate my 'careless boyhood' to all that lies on the banks of the Stour". Constable's work 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.
In his youth, Constable travelled the countryside surrounding his home on sketching trips, and these landscapes later became a focus for much of his art. Constable's pictures of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home, are now known as "Constable Country". He invested these paintings with an intensity of affection. Constable's most famous paintings include Wivenhoe Park (1816), Dedham Vale (1828), and The Hay Wain (1821).
Constable's work was more successful in France than in England, and he refused to cross the Channel to promote it, writing to a friend that he "would rather be a poor man in England, than a rich man abroad". Constable's paintings are now among the most popular and valuable in British art, but he was never financially successful during his lifetime. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts at the age of 52.
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Dedham Vale and Constable Country
John Constable RA, born on 11 June 1776, was an English Romantic landscape painter. He is known for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting with his pictures of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home. This area is now known as "Constable Country".
The Stour Valley around Dedham Vale, on the border between Suffolk and Essex, has become synonymous with the painter who immortalised its bucolic river meadows and shaded waterways. Constable's father owned watermills at Flatford and Dedham, and a windmill on East Bergholt Heath. Constable grew up in East Bergholt, on the northeastern edge of the Vale, and the village features St Mary the Virgin Church, where the country's heaviest hand-operated bells are still tolled each Sunday.
Constable's paintings of Dedham Vale include those from 1802 and 1828, held in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. Other paintings of the area include Wivenhoe Park (1816) and The Hay Wain (1821). The latter was shown at the Royal Academy's exhibition in 1821 and was awarded a gold medal from Charles X when shown at the Paris Salon of 1824. The scene depicted in The Hay Wain can still be visited today and remains virtually unchanged in 200 years.
The area around Dedham Vale is described as having a "storybook" appearance, with buildings that "look old without looking old". The landscape has been shaped by human activity, including the building of isolated settlements, transport links, and churches. Today, it is primarily an agricultural centre, and farming remains the primary tool for supporting the area's landscape and wildlife.
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Oil sketches and outdoor painting
John Constable RA was an English landscape painter in the Romantic tradition. He is known for revolutionizing landscape painting with his pictures of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home—now known as "Constable Country".
Constable's paintings include Wivenhoe Park (1816), Dedham Vale (1828), and The Hay Wain (1821). His work was more successful in France than in England, and he sold more paintings in France than in his native England. Constable's paintings are now among the most popular and valuable in British art.
Constable was a prolific sketcher, and his oil sketches, in particular, have been celebrated since the 1890s as precursors of Impressionism, modernism, and photographic composition. He often painted en plein air, or outdoors, on fragments of canvas, millboard, or homemade paper. Constable applied colour in a variety of ways, including rich impasto (thickly applied paint) and glazes (translucent oil paint), heavy dots of bright colour, and light touches of pure white. He also used quick strokes with a brush bearing only a small amount of paint, creating a dappled 'dry brush' effect, allowing the colours underneath to show through.
Constable transformed the genre of oil sketching from one used for recording landscape motifs to a means of capturing transient effects of light and weather. He once wrote to a friend in 1825 that his oil sketches were done "in the lid of my box on my knees as usual".
Constable's sketches include studies from nature, showing motifs such as a portion of the landscape and various effects of light, shade, or weather. Some sketches were made in the studio as a first draft for a composition. However, Constable was unique in making full-size studio sketches in preparation for an exhibition painting.
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Romanticism and the French Romantic movement
John Constable RA was an English landscape painter in the Romantic tradition. He is known for revolutionising landscape painting with his pictures of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home – now known as "Constable Country". Constable's most famous paintings include Wivenhoe Park (1816), Dedham Vale (1828), and The Hay Wain (1821).
Romanticism, or Romantisme in French, was a literary and artistic movement that emerged in France in the late 18th century. It was a reaction against the formality and strict rules of neo-classicism, and it reached its peak in the early 19th century. French Romanticism was influenced by the German Counter-Enlightenment movement, Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress"), which emphasised intuition and emotion over pure rationality. The novel "The Sorrows of Young Werther" by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published in 1774, also played a pivotal role in shaping the Romanticist movement.
French Romanticism found expression in various art forms, including literature, poetry, painting, sculpture, and architecture. The writer François-René de Chateaubriand's works, including "The Genius of Christianity" (1802), were influential in promoting Christian values and the revival of Gothic architecture. Romantic poetry in France was dominated by poets such as Alphonse de Lamartine, Alfred de Vigny, Victor Hugo, and Alfred de Musset. Victor Hugo's novel "Notre Dame de Paris" (1821) further fuelled the Gothic revival and led to the creation of a commission for historic monuments.
In painting, Anne Louis Girodet, a pupil of Jacques Louis David, was one of the first important painters in French Romanticism. His work, including "The Shadows of French Heroes who died in the Wars of Liberty, received by Ossian" (1802), featured mysterious lighting, symbols, mythological figures, and theatrical effects. Théodore Géricault, best known for "The Raft of the Medusa" (1818-1819), and Eugène Delacroix, known for "Liberty Leading the People" (1830), were also key painters in the French Romantic movement. Their works often featured dramatic use of colour, movement, and loose, flowing brushstrokes.
François Rude was the major sculptor of the French Romantic movement. His most famous work, "The Departure of the Volunteers" (1833-1836), depicted the passion and fury of volunteers defending the French Revolution. Overall, French Romanticism prioritised the expression of unregulated passions and extravagant effects over philosophical ideas.
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Influences and inspiration
John Constable was an English landscape painter in the Romantic tradition. He is known for revolutionising landscape painting with his pictures of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home – now known as "Constable Country".
Constable was born in Suffolk, England, and his early surroundings and understanding of its rural economy would later figure prominently in his work. He once wrote, "I should paint my own places best...I associate my careless boyhood with all that lies on the banks of the Stour. Those scenes made me a painter."
In 1795, Constable met the amateur artist and collector Sir George Beaumont, who showed him Hagar and the Angel (1646) by Claude Lorrain, which was an early inspiration. Constable also drew inspiration from the works of Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob van Ruisdael, and Claude.
In 1799, he entered the Royal Academy Schools in London, where he embarked on a career as a painter. He was also influenced by his contemporary John Cranch, who supplied him with a list of 'Painter's Reading', and his friend John Thomas 'Antiquity' Smith, who lent him drawings and prints.
Constable's work was also influenced by his marriage to Maria Bicknell. In 1824, the couple moved to Brighton due to Maria's poor health, and Constable's fascination with his surroundings during his extended visits to the seaside town is recorded in his drawings and oil sketches from this period.
Constable's paintings often depicted the impact of the elements, showcasing his skill at portraying the effects of changes in weather, light, and time of day. He was also influenced by the Romantic movement, with his work featuring religious subject matter, violent skies, and the addition of rainbows as a symbol of hope.
In addition to his oil sketches and paintings, Constable also delivered public lectures on the history of landscape painting, further shaping his artistic practice and influencing others.
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Frequently asked questions
John Constable was famous for his landscape paintings, particularly those of the English countryside.
Some of John Constable's most famous landscape paintings include 'The Hay Wain' (1821), 'Wivenhoe Park' (1816), 'Dedham Vale' (1828), 'Flatford Mill' (1816), and 'Stratford Mill' (1819).
Constable's landscapes were known for their remarkable precision and accuracy, and traditional iconography. He often depicted the English countryside, with a focus on the valley of the River Stour, an area known as "Constable Country". His paintings were also noted for their portrayal of the effects of changing weather, light, and time of day.
John Constable utilized oil painting and sketching, watercolour, and graphic media in his landscape works. He was known for his use of a palette knife and brushes to create varied marks and textures, breaking from the traditional smooth surfaces in painting. He also made many open-air sketches, using them as a basis for his large exhibition paintings.
