British1776–1837
John Constable
An English landscape painter who painted the countryside around his family home in Suffolk again and again. He made oil sketches outdoors, studying clouds and weather, long before that was common.
A life in paintings
- 1776Born
- 1815
- 1837Died
Was a rival of Joseph Mallord William TurnerRoyal Academy, London
The two poles of British landscape and direct Royal Academy rivals. Turner was an Academician at 27 (1802); Constable only got in in 1829, by one vote. The 1831-32 exhibitions saw open one-upmanship over hanging and last-minute retouching.
Source: Tate
Was influenced by Peter Paul Rubens
Rubens was among the old masters whose paintings particularly inspired Constable as a young man. The collector Sir George Beaumont, who let Constable study the old masters in his collection, owned one of Rubens's late Flemish landscapes and gave it to the National Gallery in 1823.
Source: Wikipedia
Where to see them
Victoria and Albert Museum
London
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