John Constable Biography

(Romantic Painter)

Birthday: June 11, 1776 (Gemini)

Born In: East Bergholt

John Constable was an English painter best known for his paintings of the English countryside. Throughout his career, he sketched his native valley of River Stour extensively and the area later came to be known as the Constable County. John Constable was born in Suffolk, England to Golding and Ann Constable. Golding Constable was a wealthy corn merchant and used his boat 'The Telegraph' to bring corn into London. Although John was the second son of his parents, he was looked upon as the successor to his father’s business as his elder brother was intellectually disabled. After completing his schooling in England, he began working in his father’s corn business but chance meetings with artist John Smith and collector Sir George Beaumont made him interested in art. He joined the Royal Academy Schools (now the Royal Academy of Arts) and began studying and copying the paintings of skilled European painters. Much of his life’s works are inspired from the amateur sketching trips he took in his youth to Suffolk and Essex countryside. He married childhood friend Maria Elizabeth Bicknell and together they had seven children
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Quick Facts

British Celebrities Born In June

Died At Age: 60

Family:

children: Charles Golding Constable

Artists British Men

Died on: March 31, 1837

place of death: London

More Facts

education: Royal Academy of Arts

  • 1

    What is John Constable known for?

    John Constable is known for being an English landscape painter.
  • 2

    Where did John Constable find inspiration for his paintings?

    John Constable found inspiration for his paintings in the English countryside, particularly in the region of Suffolk and Dedham Vale.
  • 3

    What painting is considered John Constable's masterpiece?

    John Constable's masterpiece is considered to be "The Hay Wain," which depicts a rural scene with a horse-drawn cart crossing a river.
  • 4

    What artistic movement was John Constable associated with?

    John Constable was associated with the Romanticism movement in art, which emphasized emotion, nature, and individualism.
  • 5

    What techniques did John Constable use in his landscape paintings?

    John Constable was known for using techniques such as capturing light and atmosphere in his landscape paintings, as well as his use of loose brushwork and expressive skies.
Childhood & Early Life
John Constable was born on June 11, 1776 in East Bergholt, Suffolk, England as the second son to Golding and Ann (Watts) Constable.
Golding Constable was the owner of two mills—Flatford (Bergholt) and Dedham (Essex) —and was a wealthy corn merchant.
John received his schooling from a boarding school in Lavenham and a day school in Dedham. He spent many childhood evenings creating numerous sketches of the Suffolk countryside or 'Skying' (sketching different cloud formations for days).
As his elder brother was intellectually disabled, John knew he had to take over the family's business. But after seeing 'Hagar and the Angel' (Claude Lorrain's painting) at Sir George Beaumont's house and meeting professional artist John Smith, he was inspired to pursue art.
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Career
John Constable enrolled in the Royal Academy Schools (London) in 1799 after his father acquiesced and gave him a small allowance to study art.
At the Royal Academy he began studying and copying the works of the old masters, (paintings of a painter who worked in Europe before 1800) such as Thomas Gainsborough, Claude Lorrain, Annibale Carracci, etc, while also attending life classes and anatomical dissections.
The Great Marlow Military College offered him the post of drawing master in 1802 but John Constable refused as he wanted to continue sketching landscapes. The same year he unveiled his first painting exhibition at the Royal Academy.
He married Maria Elizabeth Bicknell at an English Anglican church in London in 1816 and the couple travelled to Weymouth and Brighton for their honeymoon. There, the seas inspired John to develop new techniques of brilliant colours and vivacious brushworks.
For the next few years he spent his winters in London and summers in East Bergholt, where he’d sketch. For financial stability he even began portraiture, including the occasional religious portraits.
He sold his first large-scale painting (approx 6 ft) in 1819 titled ‘The White Horse’. His other painting named ‘The Hay Wain’ (a view from Flatford Mill) won the Gold medal at the Paris Salon exhibition in 1824.
He found considerable fame and popularity in France, where he sold 20 paintings within a span of a few years. But in 1825, owing to numerous reasons, he quarrelled with John Arrowsmith (his French dealer) and couldn’t sell his paintings there anymore.
In spite of not being much successful in his homeland England, he vehemently protested against travelling internationally to promote his work.
Shortly before his wife Maria passed away in 1828, she had inherited £20,000 and John used this money to pay for the engraving of several mezzotints of some of his landscapes in preparation for a publication. However, the published folios weren’t successful and couldn’t attract enough subscribers.
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His long-term affiliation with the Royal Academy continued as he was elected as an Associate in 1819, a member of the Academy in 1829 and appointed Visitor in 1831.
He delivered a series of lectures on landscape painting at the Royal Institution where he came up with a three-fold thesis; firstly, landscape painting is both, scientific and poetic; secondly, by imagination alone you cannot produce art that bears comparison with reality; and thirdly, no great painter was ever self-taught.
He delivered his last lecture at the Royal Academy in 1835 and stated that the Royal Academy was the “cradle of British art”.
Major Works
Undoubtedly, John Constable’s oil-painting titled ‘The Hay Wain’ is his greatest work and one of the most popular English paintings. The canvas-painting depicts a rural scene on the River Stour between the English counties of Suffolk and Essex, near the Flatford Mill with the central feature being three horses pulling a hay wain (large farm cart) across the river. Although it is revered today as one of the greatest British paintings, it couldn’t procure a buyer at its exhibition in 1821.
Awards & Achievements
John Constable’s painting ‘The Hay Wain’ received no particular fame in London, but in France it became a sensation and Charles X of France awarded it the Gold medal at the Paris Salon in 1824.
Personal Life & Legacy
John Constable married childhood-friend Maria Elizabeth Bicknell in 1816 and together they had seven children; John Charles, Maria Louisa, Charles Golding, Isobel, Emma, Alfred and Lionel. Maria Elizabeth passed away in 1828 due to tuberculosis.
John Constable passed away on March 31, 1837 due to heart-failure and was buried at St. John-at-Hampstead next to his wife.
Facts About John Constable
John Constable was known to have a great love for the outdoors and often painted en plein air, capturing the beauty of the natural world in his landscapes.
Constable had a deep appreciation for the changing skies and weather patterns, which is evident in his intricate and detailed cloud formations in many of his paintings.
Despite facing criticism and financial struggles early in his career, Constable remained dedicated to his craft and continued to create art that celebrated the English countryside.
Constable's work was not widely recognized during his lifetime, but he is now considered one of the greatest landscape painters in British art history.

In addition to his artistic talents, Constable was also a skilled musician and played the violin.

See the events in life of John Constable in Chronological Order

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- John Constable Biography
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URL
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