John Constable - Delphi Collected Works of John Constable (Illustrated)

John Constablewas born in East Bergholt, a village on the River Stour in Suffolk,to Golding Constable, a wealthy corn merchant and Ann (Watts)Constable. After a brief period at a boarding school in Lavenham, he wasenrolled in a day school in Dedham.Constable worked in the corn business after leaving school, but his youngerbrother Abram eventually took over the running of the mills. In his youth,Constable embarked on amateur sketching trips in the surrounding Suffolk and Essexcountryside, which in later years would inspire the majority of the subjectmatter of his canvases. At this time, he was introduced to George Beaumont, anart collector that showed the aspiring artist, amongst his many othertreasures, his prized painting Hagar andthe Angel by Claude Lorrain, which would have a profound influence onConstable.

In 1799, Constablepersuaded his father to let him pursue a career in art and Golding granted hima small allowance. Entering the Royal Academy Schools as a probationer, heattended life classes and anatomical dissections, as well as studying andcopying old masters. Among works that particularly inspired him during thisperiod were the landscapes of Thomas Gainsborough, Claude Lorrain, Peter PaulRubens, Annibale Carracci and Jacob van Ruisdael. By 1803, Constable wasexhibiting his own works at the Royal Academy. His early style hadmany qualities associated with his mature work, including a freshness of light,colour and touch, revealing the compositional influence of the old masters hehad studied, notably of Claude Lorrain. However, Constables usual choice ofsubjects scenes of ordinary daily life were unfashionable in an age thatlooked for more romantic visions of wild landscapes and ruins.

Completed in1802, the following plate, Dedham Vale,presents a view of the countryside in an area around the River Stour betweenManningtree and Smallbridge Farm in Essex ascene familiar to Constable from his boyhood days. The area has been knownsince the artists lifetime as Constable Country, as it was made famous bythe subsequent paintings that would be produced by the artist. Now housed inthe Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the oil painting was created atpivotal point in Constables career, when he famously announced to friends andfellow artists: I now vow to become a natural painter, striving to produce a pureand unaffected view of nature.

Constable wasdetermined to replicate the most faithful rendering of nature possible,spending hours in the outdoors in front of his landscapes, sketching in thefields, prior to working them up into oil. At the time of the paintingscompletion, landscapes were predominantly formed of brown tonal colouring, sowhen it was first exhibited, the luscious tones of greens was greeted withsurprise by some viewers. Dedham Valeis depicted with an elevated view, looking east across the valley. In thedistance, we can glimpse the beautiful church and the estuary, with a view outto the sea. However, in spite of theyoung artists claim to be a natural painter, the canvas is not without itsclassical inspiration. Constables beloved Claude painting,