John Constable - Suffolk Artist

Sarah Forderer • Feb 03, 2020

John Constable was born in East Bergholt, Suffolk in 1776. The second son of a miller. It was John who was expected to take over the family business due his older brothers’ inability. As a child he made amateur sketches of his native Suffolk. Growing up around the Stour Valley he later claimed ‘‘I associate “my careless boyhood” with all that lies on the banks of the Stour; those scenes made me a painter,’ When his younger brother Abram agreed to take over the mill. John was able to take his art more seriously when he entered the Royal Academy of Arts at 23. Although at the time History painting was deemed more appropriate for its students, It was the terrain that interested John. He took most of his inspiration from Thomas Gainsborough, Claude Lorrain, Peter Paul Reubens, Anniballe Carracci, and Jacob van Ruisdael.

In the first decade watercolour and drawing were his favoured technique. But his unusual subjects of ordinary life were deemed unfashionable at the time. To make ends meet, Constable took up portraiture, which he found dull, though he executed many fine portraits. He also painted occasional religious pictures, but, according to an art critic, his ‘incapacity as a religious painter cannot be overstated.’

During one of his visits to his home village, in 1809, the painter fell in love with young Maria Bicknell whom he had first met nine years before. But the girl’s grandfather and the pastor of the local churches, considered that Constable was not an eligible match for his granddaughter. He even threatened Maria with disinheritance if she married her social inferior.

For the next seven years, the lovers were forced to meet in secret until the grandfather was mollified. The main reason, though, for his approval of the marriage was the fact that, after his parents’ death, Constable had inherited the fifth share of the family fortune. For their honeymoon, forty-year-old Constable and his twenty-nine-year-old wife went on a tour of the south coast. There, the painter developed new techniques of brilliant colour and vivacious brushwork. At the same time, a greater emotional range began to be expressed in his art.

In 1817 John moved his family to London. It took a couple of years before he got the recognition, he deserved by exhibiting at the Academy. The White Horse led to a series of six footers as he called them. The Hay Wain was shown in 1821. Critics were critical of his rapid brushstrokes claiming there were too casual. But Théodore Géricault saw it on a visit to London and praised Constable back in Paris to a dealer, John Arrowsmith. The latter bought four paintings, including The Hay Wain, — and got his money’s worth. The painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1824 and won a gold medal. Moreover, Delacroix was so impressed by the British artist’s ‘casual’ brushstroke that he repainted the background of his 1824 Massacre at Chios. 

In his lifetime, John Constable only sold twenty paintings in England, but in France he sold more than twenty 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 [in England] than a rich man abroad.’

John Constable died of heart failure on 31st March 1837 and was buried with his beloved Maria in the graveyard of St John-at-Hampstead, Hampstead. Later, his children John Charles Constable and Charles Golding Constable were also buried in this family tomb. In 1888, the painter’s daughter Isabel donated her father’s works to the British nation.

Reference
https://arthive.com/johnconstable

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We are delighted to be working with up and coming Landscape Photographer Owen Clarke who kindly produced this short promotional video of our Bury St Edmunds Gallery for us. It coincided with Owen also creating a video documentary of his journey from shooting photographs on location to printing, framing and bringing his work into the Gallery for us to exhibit. We were delighted (and so was he) when one of our customers purchased his work after being displayed in our window for just a couple of hours. We will be sharing his video story shortly. If you are looking to personalise your home or office with exciting, original art by talented East Anglian artists do call in to see us in Langton Place, Bury St Edmunds or checkout our online marketplace

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Lockdown 2 – When online art sales matter more than ever

04 Nov, 2020

It wasn't entirely unexpected, but it' s still a shock. Here we go, back into lockdown, and the virus is spreading faster than ever. At the same time scientists are confirming that this thing isn't going to go away any time soon. It looks like we're in it for the long haul, along with most of the rest of the world. What does that mean for East Anglia's vibrant creative community? Well, for a start it means we'll all be back home again for at least a month, and that means plenty of us will be back at the easel making paintings and drawings, carving, potting, casting, doing all the amazing things we artists do. At the same time, we'd all like to sell more work. Especially with so many people's finances suffering. But with the second lockdown in place art galleries will be closing down again, leaving most of us with no sales outlet for our work and nowhere to exhibit or showcase it. On the bright side, there's our members club to join, The Artists Circle. More about that later. 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They wanted to create an 'open and approachable way' to buy art online through a digital shop. 2018 saw the online creative outlet Etsy home to more than 60 million items in its creative market, 2.1 million sellers, and 39.4 million buyers. The point is, online art sales have been a disruptive force for longer than the Covid-19 virus, and Covid means online art sales are on the up over the Atlantic as well as elsewhere. Art Society of Inverness goes online The Art Society of Inverness is set to showcase art by Highland artists thanks to a six week pre-Christmas art fair showcasing more than 100 paintings from local amateurs and professionals, many for sale. It follows the cancellation of the annual summer exhibition in July, usually a very popular event and a huge art sales success. 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