,illustration3 cover art ,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour ,,edited ,,by ,t4 ,,leman ,,hare ,,constable #aggf-ahcg ,,plate ,i4--,,the ,,valley ,,farm4 7,frontispiece74 ,national ,gallery4 ,in ,the ,valley ,farm1 exhibited at the ,royal ,academy in #ahce1 two years before his death1 ,constable returned to the scenes of his boyhood1 to ,willy ,lott's house on the banks of the ,stour4 ,his hand and eye have lost something of their grip and freshness1 but his purpose is as firm as ever4 ,i have preserved ,god ,almighty's day light1 he wrote1 which is enjoyed by all mankind1 excepting only the lovers of old1 dirty canvas1 perished pictures at a thousand guineas each1 cart grease1 tar1 and snuff of candle4 ,the old ,adam1 you perceive1 was still strong in him4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,i4--,,the ,,valley ,,farm4 ,,constable ,,by ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind ,,illustrated ,,with ,,eight ,,reproductions ,,in ,,colour ,illustration3 title page art ,,london3 ,t4 ,c4 ,e4 ,c4 ,,jack ,,new ,,york3 ,,frederick ,a4 ,,stokes ,,co4 #aijg ,,contents ,chap4 ,i4 ,the ,year #ahbd ,,ii4 ,the ,brown ,tree ,,iii4 ,his ,life ,,iv4 ,his ,sketches ,v4 ,his ,pictures ,,vi4 ,his ,personality and ,opinions ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,plate ,i4 ,the ,valley ,farm 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 4 ,frontispiece 7,national ,gallery7 ,,ii4 ,the ,hay ,wain 7,national ,gallery7 ,,iii4 ,the ,corn ,field 7,national ,gallery7 ,,iv4 ,flatford ,mill 7,national ,gallery7 ,v4 ,dedham ,mill 7,victoria and ,albert ,museum7 ,,vi4 ,a ,country ,lane 7,national ,gallery7 ,,vii4 ,salisbury ,cathedral from the ,bishop's ,garden 7,victoria and ,albert ,museum7 ,,viii4 ,salisbury 7,national ,gallery7 ,illustration3 ,constable ,,chapter ,i ,,the ,,year #ahbd ,john ,constable was forty-eight years of age in #ahbd1 a memorable year in the history of landscape painting4 ,a date to be remembered is #ahbd1 for in that year ,constable's ,hay ,wain was hung in the ,french ,salon4 ,that picture1 which is now in the ,national ,gallery1 marked an epoch in landscape art4 ,reams have been written about the influence of ,the ,hay ,wain upon ,french art1 by critics who are all for ,constable1 by critics who are complimentary but temperate2 and by critics who are lukewarm and almost resentful of the place claimed for ,constable as protagonist of nineteenth century landscape art4 ,a guerilla critical warfare has also raged around the influence of ,turner4 ,constable and ,turner6 ,most modern landscape painters have1 at one time or another1 learnt from these two great pioneers4 ,turner is more potent to-day1 but his influence took longer to assert itself4 ,it was not until #ahgj that ,monet visited ,london to be dazzled by the range and splendour of ,turner at the ,national ,gallery4 ,forty-six years had passed since ,the ,hay ,wain was exhibited at the ,salon4 ,in that half-century the ,barbizon ,school1 those great men of #ahcj1 ,corot1 ,rousseau1 ,millet1 ,daubigny1 ,troyon1 ,diaz1 and the rest had come to fruition4 ,constable has been claimed as their parent4 ,thore1 the ,french critic1 who wrote under the name of ,g4 ,w4 ,burger1 affirms that ,constable was the point de depart of the ,barbizon ,school2 but ,albert ,wolff1 another eminent ,french critic1 was not of that opinion4 ,thore1 writing in #ahfc1 also said that although ,constable had stimulated in ,france a school of painting unrivalled in the modern world1 he had had no influence in his own country1 a far too sweeping statement4 ,,plate ,,ii4--,,the ,,hay ,,wain4 ,national ,gallery4 ,painted in #ahba1 exhibited in the ,french ,salon in #ahbd1 ,the ,hay ,wain1 with two other smaller works1 which had been purchased from ,constable by a ,french connoisseur1 aroused extraordinary interest in ,paris1 and had a potent influence on ,french landscape art4 ,so impressed was ,delacroix with the naturalness1 the freshness1 and the brightness of ,constable's pictures at the #ahbd ,salon1 that he completely repainted his ,massacre of ,scio in the four days that intervened before the opening of the exhibition4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,ii4--,,the ,,hay ,,wain4 ,the truth about ,constable's influence on ,french art would seem to be midway between the opinions of ,thore and ,wolff4 ,that ,constable's exhibits at the ,salon of #ahbd1 which included two smaller landscapes besides ,the ,hay ,wain1 did arouse extraordinary interest1 and did have a potent influence on ,french landscape art1 there is no shadow of doubt4 ,so impressed was ,delacroix with the naturalness1 the freshness1 and the brightness of ,constable's pictures at the #ahbd ,salon1 that1 after studying them1 he completely repainted his ,massacre of ,scio in the four days that intervened before the opening of the exhibition2 and the following year ,delacroix visited ,london eager to see more of ,constable's work4 ,there is also the testimony of ,william ,brockedon1 who1 on his return from the ,salon1 wrote thus to the painter of ,the ,hay ,wain4 ,the text of the letter is printed in ,c4 ,r4 ,leslie's ,memoirs of the ,life of ,constable1 a mine of information in which all writers on ,john ,constable1 whom de ,goncourt called le grand1 le grandissime maitre1 must delve4 ,my dear ,constable1 wrote ,william ,brockedon1 ,you will find in the enclosed some remarks upon your pictures at ,paris4 ,i returned last night and brought this with me4 ,the ,french have been forcibly struck by them1 and they have created a division in the school of the landscape painters of ,france4 ,you are accused of carelessness by those who acknowledge the truth of your effect2 and the freshness of your pictures has taught them that though your means may not be essential1 your end must be to produce an imitation of ,nature1 and the next ,exhibition in ,paris will teem with your imitators1 or the school of ,nature versus the school of ,birmingham4 ,i saw one man draw another to your pictures with this expression--',look at these landscapes by an ,englishman2 the ground appears to be covered with dew4' ,note these passages3 ,they have created a division in the school of the landscape painters of ,france--,paris will teem with your imitators--,the ground appears to be covered with dew4 ,constable received the gratifying news very quietly4 ,writing to ,fisher from ,charlotte ,street1 ,fitzroy ,square1 on #agth ,december #ahbd1 he remarked--,my ,paris affairs go on very well4 ,though the ,director1 the ,count ,forbin1 gave my pictures very respectable situations in the ,louvre in the first instance1 yet on being exhibited a few weeks1 they advanced in reputation1 and were removed from their original situations to a post of honour1 two prime places in the principal room4 ,i am much indebted to the artists for their alarum in my favour2 but ,i must do justice to the ,count1 who is no artist ,i believe1 and thought that as the colours are rough they should be seen at a distance4 ,they found the mistake1 and now acknowledge the richness of texture1 and attention to the surface of things4 ,they are struck with their vivacity and freshness1 things unknown to their own pictures4 ,the truth is1 they study 7and they are very laborious students7 pictures only1 and as ,northcote says1 ',they know as little of ,nature as a hackney-coach horse does of a pasture' 444 ,however1 it is certain they have made a stir1 and set the students in landscape to thinking4 ,note the passages3 ,they are struck with their vivacity and freshness--,the truth is they study pictures only4 ,i have quoted these letters at length1 because they are first-hand authorities1 and because they state1 with simple directness1 the effect of ,constable's pictures at the ,salon of #ahbd4 ,the two smaller works that accompanied ,the ,hay ,wain we may disregard for the moment1 and ask what is there in ,the ,hay ,wain that it should have so startled the ,french painting world1 and that it should have marked an epoch in the history of landscape art4 ,stand before ,the ,hay ,wain in the ,national ,gallery and ask yourself that question4 ,if you are honest1 you will admit1 perhaps only to yourself1 that ,the ,hay ,wain looks a little old-fashioned4 ,and you will also admit that the full-sized sketch for ,the ,hay ,wain1 which you have surely noticed hanging in the ,constable room at the ,victoria and ,albert ,museum1 pleases you better on account of its greater brilliance1 vigour1 and impulse4 ,the finished picture1 though very powerful1 seems a little stolid1 a little laboured1 as if the painter had left nothing to happy accident but had worked with ,john ,bull conscientiousness over every inch of the canvas4 ,you have in the last decade or two seen so many landscapes--pearly1 atmospheric1 spacious1 vivid and vibrating with sunshine1 that this ,hay ,wain by honest ,john1 this ,english pastoral with the great sky1 the shimmering water1 and the leaves carefully accented with colour to represent the flickers of light1 does not astonish you4 ,perhaps you pass it by without a pause1 without even a cursory examination4 ,but remember this is #aiji1 and ,the ,hay ,wain made its sensation in #ahbd4 ,in those eighty-five years landscape painting has progressed at a faster rate than in all the preceding centuries4 ,in #ahbd ,the ,hay ,wain was a fresh vision1 very new and arresting4 ,why8 ,simply because ,constable returned to ,nature and painted ,nature4 ,again and again has this happened in the history of art from the time of ,giotto onwards4 ,the little men falter on1 copying one another1 studying pictures only1 in ,constable's phrase2 the public accepts their wooden performances as true art2 then the great man arises1 often a very simple1 straight-thinking1 modest man like this ,john ,constable1 and the great man does nothing more miraculous than just to use his own eyes2 he refuses to be dictated to by others as to what he should see and do1 and lo6 the world looks at what he has done1 and either rejects him altogether 7for a time71 or says1 ,here is a genius4 ,let us make much of him4 ,one thing is certain4 ,it was not by taking thought1 by planning or scheming1 that ,john ,constable made that sensation at the ,salon of #ahbd4 ,it was born in him to be what he became--a painter of ,nature4 ,how easy and simple it seems4 ,everybody paints ,nature to-day2 but in the early years of last century one had to be a great original to break away from tradition and from academic formulae1 and to paint--just ,nature4 ,the awakening came to ,john ,constable in #ahjb1 when he was twenty-six years of age4 ,in a letter to his friend ,dunthorne1 ,constable wrote from ,london3 ,for the last two years ,i have been running after pictures and seeking the truth at second hand 444 ,i shall return to ,bergholt1 where ,i shall endeavour to get a pure and unaffected manner of representing the scenes that may employ me4 ,there is little or nothing in the ,exhibitions worth looking up to4 ,there is room for a natural painter4 ,a natural painter he became--the painter of ,england1 of simple rural scenes4 ,at forty-seven years of age he lamented that he had never visited ,italy1 but the mood passed as quickly as it came1 and he cries3 ,no1 but ,i was born to paint a happier land1 my own dear old ,england4 ,and from his own dear old ,england he banished the brown tree4 ,but the droll story of the ,brown ,tree deserves a new chapter4 ,,chapter ,,ii ,,the ,,brown ,,tree ,a constant communion with pictures1 the tints of which are subdued by time1 no doubt tends to unfit the eye for the enjoyment of freshness4 ,so wrote the wise ,leslie in a chapter narrating certain passages of art talk between ,constable and ,sir ,george ,beaumont1 when the painter was visiting the amiable baronet at ,cole-,orton4 ,the modern world is a little amused by ,sir ,george ,beaumont--collector1 connoisseur1 and painter--who1 in his own ripe person1 precisely and accurately exemplified ,constable's criticism of certain ,french artists4 ,they study 7and they are very laborious students7 pictures only4 ,sir ,george loved art1 as he understood the term1 and it was not his fault that he could not see eye to eye with the young vision of ,constable4 ,quite content and happy was ,sir ,george2 he did not wish to change4 ,loved art8 ,he had a passion for art4 ,did he not always carry with him upon his journeys ,claude's picture of ,hagar8 ,in #ahbf he presented ,hagar1 which is now catalogued under the title of ,landscape with ,figures1 to the nation2 but he felt so disconsolate without his adored picture that he begged to have it returned to him for his life-time4 ,that was done1 and on ,sir ,george's death in #ahbh his widow restored ,hagar to the ,national ,gallery4 ,study ,hagar1 and you have the measure of the art predilections of ,sir ,george ,beaumont1 collector1 connoisseur1 painter1 patron1 and friend of ,john ,constable1 and author of the famous question1 ,do you find it very difficult to determine where to place your brown tree8 ,constable's answer is recorded4 ,not in the least1 for ,i never put such a thing into a picture4 ,sir ,george did4 ,observing the brown tree sprawling in the formal and academic pictures he prized and copied1 he reproduced it laboriously in his own works4 ,apparently it never occurred to him that those brown trees may once have been green4 ,sir ,george1 says ,leslie1 seemed to consider the autumnal tints necessary1 at least to some part of a landscape4 ,and ,leslie is the authority for two oft-told stories about ,gaspar ,poussin and about the ,cremona fiddle4 ,,plate ,,iii4--,,the ,,cornfield1 ,,or ,,country ,,lane4 ,national ,gallery4 ,painted in #ahbf1 and presented to the ,national ,gallery in #ahcg by an association of gentlemen1 who purchased it of the painter's executors4 ,a typical work4 ,john ,constable was pleased with his ,cornfield4 ,writing of it to ,archdeacon ,fisher1 he said--,it is not neglected in any part2 the trees are more than usually studied1 well defined as well as the stems2 they are shaken by a pleasant and healthful breeze at noon4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iii4--,,the ,,cornfield1 ,,or ,,country ,,lane4 ,sir ,george having placed a small landscape by ,gaspar ,poussin on his easel1 close to a picture he was painting1 said1 ,now1 if ,i can match these tints ,i am sure to be right4 ,but suppose1 replied ,constable1 ,gaspar could rise from his grave1 do you think he would know his own picture in its present state8 or if he did1 should we not find it difficult to persuade him that somebody had not smeared tar or cart grease over its surface1 and then wiped it imperfectly off8 ,the fiddle story can be told in fewer words4 ,sir ,george having recommended the colour of an old ,cremona fiddle for the prevailing tone of everything in ,nature1 ,constable answered by laying an old fiddle on the green lawn before the house4 ,sir ,george ,beaumont was one of the last of the servile disciples of ,claude ,lorraine and the ,poussins1 who conjured their followers into believing that a landscape must be composed in the grand or classical manner1 and must conform to certain academic rules4 ,claude's drawings1 preserved in the ,british ,museum1 proclaim that he could be as frank1 delightful1 and impulsive as ,constable in his sketches2 but when ,claude constructed a landscape of ruined temples and fatuous biblical or legendary figures1 the inspiration of his drawing usually evaporated4 ,claude's genius remained1 and there are pictures by him1 notably ,the ,enchanted ,castle1 that in their particular manner have never been surpassed2 but alas6 it was not the genius that ,sir ,george ,beaumont imitated1 but ,claude's mannerisms and limitations4 ,the stay-at-home ,dutchmen who flooded the seventeenth century with their simple1 homely1 and often beautiful landscapes had no attraction for grandiose ,sir ,george and his kin4 ,the genius of ,watteau which flashed into the eighteenth century1 the commanding performances of ,richard ,wilson and ,gainsborough in landscape1 had no influence upon the practitioners of the grand manner4 ,and in truth those pioneers suffered for their temerity4 ,wilson1 who never quite cast off the classical mantle1 accepted with gratitude1 at the height of his fame1 the post of librarian to the ,royal ,academy4 ,gainsborough would have starved had he been obliged to depend upon landscape painting for a living1 and ,constable would have been in financial straits had he been obliged to depend for the support of his family entirely upon the sale of his pictures4 ,wilson died in #aghb1 ,gainsborough in #aghh1 and ,j4 ,r4 ,cozens1 whom ,constable described as the greatest genius who ever touched landscape1 in #agii2 but the careers of these men cannot be said to have influenced their landscape contemporaries4 ,while ,wilson1 ,gainsborough1 and ,cozens were still alive1 certain boys were growing up in ,england1 who were destined to make the nineteenth century splendid with their landscape performances4 ,what a galaxy of names6 ,old ,crome and ,james ,ward were born in #agfi2 ,turner and ,girtin in #agge2 ,constable in #aggf4 ,cotman saw the light in #aghb1 the year of ,wilson's death2 ,david ,cox in #aghc2 ,peter de ,wint in #aghd1 and the short and brilliant life of ,bonington began in #ahja4 ,but landscape painting was still1 and was to remain for long1 the ,cinderella of the arts4 ,in #ahbi ,cotman wrote a letter beginning1 ,my eldest son is following the same miserable profession4 ,constable's ,british contemporaries being men of genius of various degrees1 men of individual vision1 it is quite natural that his influence upon them should have been almost negligible4 ,turner1 ,old ,crome1 and ,bonington owed nothing to ,constable2 but in ,france it was different4 ,in the early years of the nineteenth century when ,englishmen were producing magnificent work which was to bring them such great posthumous fame and such small rewards during their lifetime1 landscape painting in ,france was still slumbering in classical swathing-bands4 ,as if frightened out of originality by the horrors of the ,french ,revolution of #aghi1 the landscape painters of ,france for thirty years and more remained steeped in the apathy of classicism4 ,david 7#agdh-ahbe7 dominated the ,french art world1 and no mere landscape painter was able to dispel the heavy tradition that ,david imposed in historical painting4 ,true there were protestors1 original men 7there always are71 but they were powerless to stem the turgid stream4 ,there was ,paul ,huet and there was ,georges ,michel1 happy no doubt in their work1 but unfortunate in living before their time4 ,michel1 neglected1 misunderstood1 was excluded from the ,salon exhibitions after #ahad1 on account of his revolutionary tendencies4 ,we note signs of the brown tree obsession in ,michel's spacious and simple landscapes1 but he painted the environs of ,paris1 and did not give a thought to theatrical renderings of ,plutarch1 ,theocritus1 ,ovid1 or ,virgil4 ,france was ripe for ,constable at that memorable ,salon of #ahbd1 simple1 straight-seeing ,constable1 who painted his ,suffolk parish1 not the tumbling ruins of ,italy1 and who showed that the sun shines1 that the wind blows1 that water wets1 and that air and light are everywhere4 ,but ,constable's influence on the ,french painters1 although great1 must not be overstated4 ,change was in the air4 ,herald signs had not been lacking of the rebirth of ,french landscape painting4 ,the ,french critics of the ,salons had already begun to complain of the stereotyped classical ruins and brown-tree landscapes2 they announced that they were weary of malarious lakes1 desolate wastes1 and terrible cliffs4 ,joyfully they welcomed in the ,salon of #ahbb the brilliant water-colours of ,bonington1 ,copley ,fielding1 and other ,englishmen1 and then came #ahbd with ,constable showing that the bright1 fresh colours were also possible in oil1 and that a fine picture could be made out of an unpicturesque locality1 a lock1 a cottage1 a hay-wain1 a cornfield1 quite as well as from a ,plague among the ,philistines at ,ashdod1 or an ,embarkation of the ,queen of ,sheba4 ,as has been already explained1 ,constable did not dream of the success and fame that was in store for him in ,paris4 ,the ,hay ,wain was painted in #ahba2 he was then forty-five1 and as will be seen from the following letter written in #ahbb1 he had not found art remunerative4 ,i have some nibbles at my large picture of ',the ,hay ,wain' in the ,british ,gallery4 ,i have an offer of seventy pounds without the frame to form part of an exhibition in ,paris4 ,i hardly know what to do4 ,it might promote my fame and procure me commissions1 but it is the property of my family2 though ,i want money dreadfully2 and1 on this subject1 ,i must beg a great favour of you1 indeed1 ,i can do it of no other person4 ,the loan of twenty pounds or thirty pounds would be of the greatest use to me at this time1 as painting these large pictures has much impoverished me4 ,in #ahbd the nibble became a bite4 ,the ,hay ,wain with the two other pictures was sold to a ,frenchman for two hundred and fifty pounds4 ,the ,frenchman's object was to make a show of them in ,paris4 ,he did so to some purpose4 ,and it is odd to note that the name of this farseeing ,frenchman has never been disclosed4 ,above ,the ,hay ,wain in the ,national ,gallery hangs ,james ,ward's fine picture called ,view of ,harlech ,castle and surrounding landscape4 ,that is the official title1 but ,i suggest that the title should be1 ,the ,end of the ,brown ,tree4 ,you will observe that the brown tree has been cut down and is being hurried away in a cart drawn by four grey horses4 ,i do not accuse the ,director of the ,national ,gallery of joking2 but ,i cannot think it was altogether without intention that1 in the rehanging of the room1 ,james ,ward's allegory of the end of the ,brown ,tree should have been hung above ,constable's ,hay ,wain1 the pioneer picture of the new movement4 ,,chapter ,,iii ,,his ,,life ,constable had a happy1 uneventful life and a quiet death4 ,a happy life8 ,yes4 ,for the loss of friends and the depression of spirits that clouded his closing years are events that happen to not a few who have lived the major portion of their lives pleasantly and successfully4 ,practical1 level-headed1 industrious1 there is no hint of the aberrations or eccentricities of genius in the orderly and fruitful sixty-one years of his existence1 which began in #aggf1 and ended in #ahcg4 ,probably the severest blow in his life was the death of his wife in #ahbh1 leaving him with seven children4 ,it came1 almost without warning1 the year after the family had settled so contentedly in ,well ,walk1 ,hampstead4 ,this house1 he wrote1 is to my wife's heart's content2 it is situated on an eminence at the back of the spot in which you saw us1 and our little drawing-room commands a view unsurpassed in ,europe1 from ,westminster ,abbey to ,gravesend4 ,the dome of ,st ,paul's in the air seems to realise ,michael ,angelo's words on seeing the ,pantheon2 ',i will build such a thing in the sky4' ,after his wife's death ,constable returned to his former residence in ,charlotte ,street1 ,fitzroy ,square2 but he retained ,well ,walk1 and often sojourned there4 ,,plate ,,iv4--,,flatford ,,mill ,,on ,,the ,,river ,,stour4 ,national ,gallery4 ,painted in #ahag4 ,constable was then forty-one1 a somewhat mature age for a man to produce what may fairly be called his first important work4 ,it is a picture of ,england--ripe1 lush1 carefully composed1 carefully executed1 but fresh as are the meadows on the banks of the ,stour2 and the sky1 across which the large clouds are drifting1 is sunny4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iv4--,,flatford ,,mill ,,on ,,the ,,river ,,stour4 ,probably the greatest surprise1 and certainly one of the most comforting episodes of his life1 was the receipt of a legacy of twenty thousand pounds on the death of his wife's father1 which elicited the remark that now he could stand before a six-foot canvas with a mind at ease1 thank ,god6 ,constable developed slowly as a painter1 but having once found himself he strode steadily onward1 knowing exactly what he meant to do1 turning neither to the right nor to the left1 indifferent to tradition1 schools1 and influences4 ,consequently the earlier years of his life1 when he was breaking away from tradition and beginning to see things with his own eyes are the more interesting4 ,he was born at ,east ,bergholt in ,suffolk on #aath ,june #aggf1 the second son of ,golding ,constable1 owner of water and wind mills4 ,at the ,dedham ,grammar ,school he was renowned for his penmanship1 and before he left school1 at seventeen years of age1 he had already shown a strong inclination towards painting4 ,in this he was encouraged by his friend ,john ,dunthorne1 plumber and glazier1 a man of parts1 who devoted his leisure time to landscape painting4 ,fate was complaisant to ,constable4 ,born in an opulent and wooded quarter of ,suffolk1 on a spot overlooking the fertile valley of the ,stour1 with a friend close at hand who loved ,nature and painted her for pleasure not for profit1 can we wonder that1 later in life1 ,constable wrote enthusiastically and gratefully of the scenes of my boyhood which made me a painter4 ,a painter he was from the beginning1 for his father's proposal that he should take ,orders was never really seriously entertained1 and the year that he spent as a miller was surely of more service to him as a student of ,nature than if he had spent the period as a student in an art school4 ,as a miller1 the handsome miller he was called1 he learnt at first hand the ways of winds1 clouds1 and storms2 in an art school he would have learned how his predecessors had decided that antique statues should be drawn and shaded4 ,yes2 everything conspired to make ,john ,constable a natural painter4 ,the art schools would serve him later1 but that year as a miller watching the skies1 noting the winds1 observing the growth of crops1 and the demeanour of trees1 was the foundation of his originality4 ,he was but sixteen--that impressionable period when everything is new1 and the eyes of body and soul absorb and retain4 ,in that fresh and impulsive sketch called ,spring1 now in the ,victoria and ,albert ,museum1 he painted1 later in life1 one of the mills in which he worked1 upon the timbers of which he had carved the words ,john ,constable1 #agib4 ,in the second edition of his ,life1 published in #ahde1 ,leslie says that the name and date1 neatly carved with a penknife1 still remain4 ,leslie also prints ,constable's description of this ,spring sketch which was engraved by ,david ,lucas4 ,it may perhaps give some idea of one of those bright silvery days in the spring1 when at noon large garish clouds surcharged with hail or sleet sweep with their broad shadows the fields1 woods1 and hills2 and by their depths enhance the value of the vivid greens and yellows so peculiar to the season4 ,the natural history1 if the expression may be used1 of the skies1 which are so particularly marked in the hail squalls at this time of the year1 is this4444 ,then follows a lengthy and intimate study of the natural history of the skies1 showing what stores of knowledge he had amassed during the year he worked as a miller4 ,is it exaggeration to describe that year as the most important of his life4 ,it gave him the independent outlook1 the rough intimacy with fields and hedgerows under the influences of light and weather1 that new-old knowledge which so astonished the ,french artists at the ,salon of #ahbd4 ,constable began with the skies of ,nature1 he went on to study the skies of ,claude1 ,ruysdael1 and other masters2 but he returned to the skies and pastures of ,nature1 never to leave them again4 ,,plate ,v4--,,dedham ,,mill4 ,victoria and ,albert ,museum4 ,painted in #ahbj1 three years after ,flatford ,mill4 ,constable's father was the owner of the watermills at ,flatford and ,dedham4 ,many years before the date of this picture1 ,constable1 writing of a landscape of ,dedham by an acquaintance1 said--,it is very well painted1 and there is plenty of light without any light at all4 ,in ,dedham ,mill1 he progresses in his purpose to infuse true light into his pictures4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,v4--,,dedham ,,mill4 ,here is a further episode of ,constable's youth before he visited ,london1 another example of the luck1 there is no other word for it1 that attended his art beginnings4 ,the ,dowager ,lady ,beaumont lived at ,dedham1 where ,golding ,constable owned a water-mill1 and as the families were friendly1 ,constable early made the acquaintance of her son1 ,sir ,george ,beaumont1 who was twenty-three years his senior4 ,he had already approved of some copies made by the youth in pen and ink after ,dorigny's engravings of the cartoons of ,raphael1 and he had showed him the ,hagar by ,claude1 already mentioned1 which ,sir ,george always carried about with him when he travelled4 ,what was still more important1 he displayed before his protege thirty water-colours by ,girtin4 ,the ,claude and the array of ,girtins produced an enormous impression upon young ,constable4 ,in ,claude he made acquaintance with an old master1 who had been the first to paint pure landscape in the approved grand or classical manner2 in ,girtin was revealed to him the harbinger of a new epoch in landscape painting1 the young ,girtin1 friend and fellow-student of ,turner1 who died in #ahjb at the age of twenty-seven1 and of whom ,turner said--,had ,girtin lived1 ,i should have starved4 ,in #agie ,constable made a tentative visit to ,london1 for the purpose of ascertaining what might be his chance of success as a painter4 ,he carried with him a letter to ,joseph ,farrington1 pupil of ,richard ,wilson1 who predicted that his style of landscape would one day form a distinct feature in the art4 ,constable also made the acquaintance of ,john ,thomas ,smith1 the engraver1 known as ,antiquity ,smith1 who gave him the following excellent advice1 which shows that the revolt against the academic landscape had already begun in ,england3 ,do not1 said ,antiquity ,smith1 set about inventing figures for a landscape taken from ,nature2 for you cannot remain an hour in any spot1 however solitary1 without the appearance of some living thing that will in all probability accord better with the scene and time of day than will any invention of your own4 ,that visit to ,london for the purpose of ascertaining what might be his chance of success as a painter1 would seem to have been encouraging neither to himself nor to his parents4 ,no immediate answer was forthcoming1 and while the decision was in abeyance his time was divided between ,london and ,bergholt4 ,it is on record that he worked hard3 that he studied ,leonardo's ,treatise on ,painting2 that he read ,hessner's ,essay on ,landscape2 and that he painted two pictures--,a ,chymist and ,an ,alchymist--of very little merit4 ,gradually it seems to have been recognised that he was to become not a painter1 but a clerk in his father's counting-house4 ,in #agig1 at the age of twenty-one1 young ,constable wrote to ,antiquity ,smith3 ,i must now take your advice and attend to my father's business 444 now ,i see plainly it will be my lot to walk through life in a path contrary to that in which my inclination would lead me4 ,poor ,john6 ,not even a peep of the skies from the windmill1 merely a stool in the counting-house4 ,this threat of the counting-house stool seems to have been only a temporary menace4 ,his biographer dwells very briefly on those dark disillusioned days4 ,suddenly the clouds lift1 and in #agii we find him admitted a student of the ,royal ,academy ,schools4 ,his biographer breaks the news dramatically1 with the statement--in the year #agii he had resumed the pencil1 not again to lay it aside4 ,no record is given of the period he presumably passed in his father's counting-house4 ,we know only that at twenty-three years of age he attained his heart's desire4 ,the following passage from a letter written to ,dunthorne1 on #dth ,february #agii1 inaugurates ,constable's career as a painter3 ,i am now comfortably settled in ,cecil ,street1 ,strand1 ,number twenty-three4 ,i shall begin painting as soon as ,i have the loan of a sweet little picture by ,jacob ,ruysdael to copy4 ,no doubt he learned much from copying ,ruysdael and other masters1 but ,nature was his real tutor4 ,later in the year he writes from ,ipswich3 ,it is a most delightful country for a painter4 ,i fancy ,i see ,gainsborough in every hedge and hollow tree4 ,and in #ahjb he makes that memorable communication by letter to ,dunthorne after a visit to ,sir ,george ,beaumont's pictures1 to which reference has already been made4 ,for the last two years ,i have been running after pictures1 and seeking the truth at second hand 444 ,i shall return to ,bergholt1 where ,i shall endeavour to get a pure and unaffected manner of representing the scenes that may employ me 444 ,there is room for a natural painter4 ,the great vice of the day is bravura1 an attempt to do something beyond the truth4 ,constable had now thirty-five years of life before him1 through which he worked unwearyingly1 joyfully1 to become a natural painter4 ,henceforth he was the interpreter of ,english cultivated scenery--pastures and the skies1 trees and cottages1 the farm-hand1 the farm-waggon1 the farm-horse1 the fugitive rain and the wind that passes4 ,mountains1 the sea1 the piled up majestic picturesqueness of ,nature did not attract him4 ,in brain1 heart1 and vision he was essential pastoral ,england1 and never did he better express his innermost feeling than when he wrote3 ,i love every stile and stump and lane in the village2 as long as ,i am able to hold a brush1 ,i shall never cease to paint them4 ,the life of a painter is not usually exciting1 and ,constable's life was no exception1 ,here are a few dates4 ,in #ahjb1 at the age of twenty-six1 he exhibited his first picture1 under the unambitious title ,a ,landscape1 at the ,royal ,academy2 in #ahaf1 at forty1 he married2 in #ahai1 at forty-three1 he was elected ,a4,r4,a42 in #ahbd1 his ,hay ,wain was exhibited at the ,salon2 in #ahbh his wife died2 in #ahbi1 at fifty-three1 he was elected ,r4,a41 and in #ahcg he died4 ,the end was sudden4 ,he had been at work during the day on his last picture of ,arundel ,mill and ,castle1 and although his friends noticed that he was not looking well1 he was able to go out that evening on an errand connected with the ,artists' ,benevolent ,fund4 ,he retired to bed about nine o'clock1 read as was his custom1 and when the servant removed the candle by which he had been reading1 he was asleep4 ,later he awoke in great pain1 and died within an hour4 ,the post-mortem revealed no indications of disease1 and the extreme pain1 says ,leslie1 from which ,constable suffered and died could only be traced to indigestion4 ,the vault in the south-east corner of the churchyard at ,hampstead where his wife had been buried1 and from the shock of whose death he never quite recovered1 was opened1 and he was laid by her side4 ,his art was sane and healthy1 but his letters show that during the latter part of his life he suffered from depression and morbid fancies4 ,all my indispositions1 he wrote to ,fisher1 have their source in my mind4 ,it is when ,i am restless and unhappy that ,i become susceptible of cold1 damp1 heats1 and such nonsense4 ,and1 to sum up1 ,leslie recalls a passage written by ,constable ten years before his death1 in which1 after speaking of having removed his family to ,hampstead1 he says3 ,i could gladly exclaim1 here let me take my everlasting rest4 ,but his life was an extremely happy one on the whole2 the legacies he received1 placed him in comfortable circumstances1 and if1 outside his own fraternity1 his art was but little encouraged1 that was the lot of all landscape painters4 ,it is said that he was nearly forty before he sold a landscape beyond the circle of his relatives and personal friends4 ,this was probably the ,ploughing ,scene in ,suffolk1 bought from the ,royal ,academy ,exhibition of #ahad by ,mr ,allnutt4 ,but to set against this tardy recognition1 there was the splendour of the acknowledgments that came later--his gold medal at the #ahbd ,salon1 and the gold medal at ,lille in #ahbe for his ,white ,horse4 ,the priced catalogue of the sale of his pictures and sketches after his death shows how enormously the appreciation of ,constable has increased4 ,the two magnificent studies for ,the ,hay ,wain and ,the ,leaping ,horse now at the ,victoria and ,albert ,museum1 were sold in one lot for fourteen pounds ten shillings2 ,salisbury ,cathedral from the ,bishop's ,garden1 went for sixty-four pounds one shilling1 and ,the ,opening of ,waterloo ,bridge for sixty-three pounds4 ,constable fell under the ban of ,ruskin--unjustly1 ,i have never seen any work of his in which there were signs of his being able to draw is the opening of an oft-quoted passage2 but when ,modern ,painters was being written1 as ,mr ,sturge ,henderson points out1 the magnificent collection of ,constable's tree studies and sketches1 now at ,south ,kensington1 were still in private hands4 ,ruskin could never have taunted ,constable with not being able to draw had he examined those studies4 ,although not a great draughtsman he was certainly a conscientious1 competent1 and life-long student of drawing4 ,constable has now his assured high place in ,british art4 ,so valuable have his paintings become1 that he has long been a prey to the forger and the clever copyist4 ,mr ,c4 ,j4 ,holmes1 in his exhaustive and discriminating work on ,constable1 devotes four pages to an examination of the methods of the forgers4 ,in another appendix he prints a chronological list of ,constable's chief pictures and sketches1 from #agie1 the year of his earliest dated work1 ,a ,study after ,claude1 to the ,arundel ,mill and ,castle1 exhibited at the ,royal ,academy in #ahcg4 ,at the beginning of the record of each year's work there is a line giving the ,places ,visited by ,constable during the year4 ,these bare records are like so many windows opening to the country places which ,constable loved1 where he spent joyous1 enthusiastic days2 for ,constable was never so happy as when he stood with brushes and palette face to face with ,nature4 ,turner was a world traveller--the world of ,europe4 ,constable was a home traveller--the homely stiles1 stumps1 and lanes of the village4 ,what a vista the following mere record of the ,places ,visited in #ahbc gives3 ,london1 ,southgate1 ,suffolk1 ,salisbury1 ,gillingham1 ,sherbourne1 ,fonthill1 ,cole-,orton4 ,can you not see him drawing from each place fresh and dewy inspiration8 ,not truth at second-hand3 truth direct from the source4 ,and does not the heart respond to ,constable's generous enthusiasm for his great contemporary4 ,here is his testimony to ,turner's contributions to the ,royal ,academy ,exhibition of #ahbh3 ,turner has some golden visions1 glorious and beautiful4 ,they are only visions1 but still1 they are art1 and one could live and die with such pictures4 ,,plate ,,vi4--,a ,,country ,,lane4 ,national ,gallery4 ,this sketch probably served as the motive for the picture of ,the ,cornfield4 ,the sobriety of the work places it in a category between the careful construction of the ,exhibition pictures and the impetuosity of most of the sketches4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vi4--,a ,,country ,,lane4 ,,chapter ,,iv ,,his ,,sketches ,constable exhibited one hundred and four works at the ,royal ,academy4 ,in addition to these and other paintings1 he produced many brilliant sketches and a number of drawings4 ,like ,turner1 his achievements may be exhaustively studied in public ,exhibitions in ,london1 and as with ,turner1 the difficulty is where to begin4 ,at the ,national ,gallery there is a wall composed1 with one exception1 entirely of his works2 the ,victoria and ,albert ,museum contains a room1 or rather a hall of his pictures1 sketches1 and studies1 and he is also represented at the ,tate and ,diploma ,galleries4 ,some of the examples were bequeathed to the nation by his last surviving daughter1 ,miss ,isabel ,constable1 in #ahhh4 ,two years later ,henry ,vaughan bequeathed a number of works1 including ,the ,hay ,wain4 ,the casual visitor finds little emotional excitement1 and no literary interest in these honest interpretations of ,english scenery4 ,constable was never dramatic 7,the ,opening of ,waterloo ,bridge may be counted an exception7 or idealistic like ,turner4 ,from a scenic point of view1 ,the ,hay ,wain is dull compared with ,ulysses ,deriding ,polyphemus1 and knowledge of art history is not so widely diffused as to give to ,the ,hay ,wain the interest it should command as a pioneer picture in modern landscape4 ,constable does not thrill4 ,roast beef does not thrill1 but it is wholesome and life-communicating4 ,constable was a prosaic man of genius4 ,once he said that painting is another word for feeling1 but he also made that most characteristic retort to ,blake1 who1 when looking through one of ,constable's sketch-books1 exclaimed on seeing a drawing of fir-trees on ,hampstead ,heath--,why1 this is not drawing1 but inspiration4 ,to which ,constable quietly replied--,i meant it for drawing4 ,constable never desired to thrill2 his ambition was merely to be a natural painter1 and he would probably not have been in the least distressed at the episode related by ,mr ,sturge ,henderson in his biography4 ,an elegant and attractive ,american woman after examining ,the ,glebe ,farm in the ,national ,gallery1 remarked to her son1 a typical undergraduate3 ,does this thrill you8 ,not the least in the world1 replied the son1 and they passed on4 ,no doubt these cultured moderns desired in a painting the beauty touched with strangeness1 that ,botticelli and ,piero della ,francesca offer3 there is no place in such aesthetic lives for the familiarity touched with honesty of ,john ,constable4 ,to-day his innovations--his attempts to represent the vibration of light1 his spots and splashes of colour to counterfeit the sun glitter1 his touches and scrapings laid on with the palette knife to obtain force and brightness--have become a commonplace4 ,constable1 being a pioneer1 was accustomed to misunderstanding and also to badinage4 ,his breezy and showery effects1 blowing wind1 rustling grasses1 waving trees1 and wet rain1 were occasionally the subjects of banter from his fellow ,academicians and others4 ,fuseli1 ,professor of ,painting1 a bad artist1 but a good joker1 was once seen to open his umbrella as he entered the ,exhibition4 ,what are you doing with your umbrella up8 asked a friend4 ,oh1 replied ,fuseli1 ,i am going to look at ,mr ,constable's pictures6 ,that was really a great compliment1 and ,i may cap the story by quoting the brief1 bald1 criticism of ,sir ,william ,beechy on ,constable's ,salisbury from the ,meadows4 ,why1 d--n it1 ,constable1 what a d----d fine picture you are making2 but you look d----d ill1 and you have got a d----d bad cold4 ,no4 ,constable of the unpicturesque localities does not thrill1 and his pictures evoke a meditative rather than an ecstatic mood4 ,in his large works one never finds the haunting charm of a fine ,corot1 the majesty of a ,rousseau1 or the clarity of light and colour of a ,harpigny4 ,he did not1 except in rare cases1 select from the abundance of ,nature2 he was content with facts as he saw them1 and he laboured at his surfaces until sometimes one can hardly disentangle the incidents for the paint in which they are enveloped4 ,the ,leaping ,horse1 in the ,diploma ,gallery1 is a magnificent performance in picture-making but it is heavy--heavy as a mid-day ,english ,sunday dinner4 ,it has force1 strength1 knowledge1 vigour1 but little beauty1 except perhaps in the sweep of sky2 and certainly no strangeness4 ,the signs of labour are written all over it2 you feel that he has carefully and conscientiously composed this picture for an exhibition1 and that in the long labour he has lost the early impulse and freshness of the pensee mere4 ,to see how much he lost you have only to study the large sketch for ,the ,leaping ,horse1 in the ,victoria and ,albert ,museum1 finer1 bolder1 much more instinct with life and inspiration than the finished production4 ,which brings me to the two great divisions of ,constable's life-work--the sketches1 which we are told he did not regard as serious1 and the finished pictures4 ,his sketches are innumerable1 and all1 or at any rate the great majority of them possess the impulse1 the lyrical note1 so often lacking in his larger canvases4 ,of course1 this criticism applies to all painters4 ,the sketch is made for love1 the picture for an ,exhibition4 ,what could be more luminously spacious1 unworried and unfettered by the convention of picture-making than his small oil-sketch of ,harwich3 ,sea and ,lighthouse1 in the ,tate ,gallery1 of which there is a pencil sketch at ,south ,kensington1 dated #ahae4 ,here is the first impression caught and transferred to canvas while the blood was still hot1 the pulse quick1 and the eyes eager to record this scene of desolate beauty1 vast sky1 rippling ocean1 bare foreshore1 lonely lighthouse1 and one figure in the foreground1 with notes of almost indistinguishable figures beyond the lighthouse1 and a few remote sails upon the sea4 ,it has not the learning of ,the ,hay ,wain or ,the ,leaping ,horse1 and the steady flame of ,constable's fame would probably long ago have been extinguished had it depended for existence entirely upon his sketches2 but1 speaking for myself1 it is to his sketches that ,i go for joy4 ,verily this student of ,nature1 who disliked autumn and loved spring2 who painted summer1 its breezes1 its heat1 its heavy colouring1 its gusts of winds1 its sudden storms2 verily he lives in our hearts wherever our eyes meet his sketches4 ,they induce1 they compel one to linger in such places as the dark staircase of the ,diploma ,gallery1 in ,burlington ,house1 the walls of which sing out with two groups of his sketches1 significant moments seen in ,nature4 ,that beach and sea2 the rain-storm streaming down the canvas2 those floating clouds1 only the clouds and the sky visible2 that boat with the red sail labouring in the heavy water--they are essential ,constable4 ,and what an object lesson in the making of a landscape painter is provided by the hall of drawings1 pictures1 and sketches at the ,victoria and ,albert ,museum4 ,they are a standing refutation of ,ruskin's words--,i have never seen any work of his in which there were signs of his being able to draw1 and hence the most necessary details are painted by him insufficiently4 ,constable was not an inspired draughtsman2 but that he worked hard at drawing1 and that he achieved considerable mastery with his pencil is abundantly testified by the many examples at ,south ,kensington1 notably1 ,the ,study of ,trees at ,hampstead1 the ,windsor ,castle from the ,river1 the ,cart and ,horses1 and above all the magnificent and minute ,stem of an ,elm ,tree1 none of which1 as has already been noted1 ,ruskin had ever seen4 ,these are all interesting1 almost meticulously conscientious1 but for ,john ,constable in more daring mood1 carried away by the riot of the scene1 we must turn to such sketches as the chaotic cloud forms of ,weymouth ,bay1 and the splashy1 opulent splendour of the oil sketch called ,view on the ,stour4 ,or to the sketches that emerge1 modestly but clamantly1 from the large works on the wall devoted to his achievement at the ,national ,gallery1 which contains no fewer than twenty-two examples by ,constable4 ,one of them1 ,a ,country ,lane1 illustrated in these pages1 served as a motive for his picture of ,the ,cornfield4 ,the sobriety and somewhat heavy handling of this oil sketch places it in a category between the careful construction of the ,exhibition pictures1 and the impetuosity of most of the sketches4 ,but the atmospheric ,salisbury that hangs below1 to the left of ,a ,country ,lane1 which is a preliminary study without the rainbow for the picture of ,salisbury from the ,meadows1 has all the quick1 almost feverish informality of his best sketches4 ,it is larger than the sketches1 but shows no anxiety4 ,the hand following the eye stopped when the vision of the eye was recorded1 when all the hurry of the wet glitter of the scene had been stated in broken pigment4 ,as a contrast1 examine ,a ,cornfield with ,figures1 a tranquilly beautiful suggestion of late summer--fifteen and a half inches by nine and a half--thinly painted rain-clouds floating past1 the heat haze hovering in the field of corn partly reaped and stocked4 ,the vivid1 ,summer ,afternoon after a ,shower1 hanging near by has an interest apart from its spontaneity and vigour4 ,it is precisely what it looks1 the recollection of a summer shower1 noted in an ecstatic moment1 and recorded at a sitting4 ,the story is told by ,leslie--how ,constable was travelling by coach either to or from ,brighton2 how at ,redhill he saw this effect2 how he treasured the memory of it until the coach reached its destination1 and how immediately on alighting1 he made this sketch of one wild moment snatched from ,nature4 ,,plate ,,vii4--,,salisbury ,,cathedral ,,from ,,the ,,bishop',s ,,garden4 ,victoria and ,albert ,museum4 ,in the interval between the painting of ,the ,hay ,wain 7#ahba7 and its exhibition in ,paris 7#ahbd71 ,constable produced ,salisbury ,cathedral from the ,bishop's ,garden1 wherein he attempted to represent the glitter of sunlight by spots of pure pigment1 which his friends called ,constable's snow4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vii4--,,salisbury ,,cathedral ,,from ,,the ,,bishop',s ,,garden4 ,it was this constant study of ,nature that distinguished ,constable from those of his academic predecessors and contemporaries who studied only the works of other painters4 ,it was in this solitary communion with ,nature that ,constable showed the originality of his genius4 ,how thorough he was4 ,he was not content to note only what his eyes saw1 but he also observed and recorded the time of day and the direction of the wind4 ,twenty of ,constable's studies of skies made during this season 7#ahbb7 are in my possession1 says ,leslie1 and there is but one among them in which a vestige of landscape is introduced4 ,they are painted in oil1 on large sheets of thick paper1 and all dated1 with the time of day1 the direction of the wind1 and other memoranda on their backs4 ,on one1 for instance1 is written3 ',fifth of ,september #ahbb4 ,ten o'clock morning1 looking south-east1 brisk wind at west4 ,very bright and fresh1 grey clouds running fast over a yellow bed1 about half-way in the sky4' ,that is the real ,constable speaking1 the ,constable who had found himself4 ,but we are never wholly emancipated from tradition1 and knowing the difficulties of his craft he retained his admiration for the great ones among his predecessors4 ,in #ahbd1 he wrote3 ,i looked into ,angerstein's the other day2 how paramount is ,claude444 ,maybe4 ,but ,claude had to be left alone4 ,constable knew that in his heart1 and1 as he advanced in wisdom1 art at second-hand held him less and less1 and art at first hand1 which is ,nature1 more and more4 ,he learnt to rely upon his eyes and the cunning of his hand4 ,and when he thanked ,heaven he had no imagination1 there was more in that utterance than appears on the surface4 ,,chapter ,v ,,his ,,pictures ,in one of his letters1 dated #agii1 ,constable refers to a sweet little picture by ,jacob ,ruysdael ,i am copying4 ,he was then twenty-three years of age1 a devoted admirer and student of his predecessors in landscape1 and able1 strange as it may seem to us1 to call a ,ruysdael sweet4 ,in the style of the old masters he continued working until he was nearly forty1 learning from them how to construct a picture1 and acquiring execution as he expressed it4 ,a methodical man was ,john ,constable1 a builder who spared no trouble to make his foundations sound2 but during those years of spade work in his voluntary apprenticeship1 he never disregarded his determination to become a natural painter4 ,it was his custom to study and copy the old masters during his sojourn in ,london1 but to paint in his own original way1 directly from ,nature and in the open air1 when in the country4 ,an early result of being himself during holiday time was the ,dedham ,vale oil sketch of #ahjb1 now at ,south ,kensington1 a careful1 reposeful picture with trees rising formally at the right1 and the church tower visible just beyond the winding river4 ,he utilised this sketch for the large picture exhibited1 under the same title1 in #ahbh4 ,the influence of other painters such as the ,dutch landscape men1 ,gainsborough and ,girtin1 may be traced in many of his pictures produced in the opening years of the nineteenth century when he was acquiring the execution on which he based his originality4 ,he also painted portraits2 indeed at one time he proposed to live by portrait painting4 ,during #ahjg and the next few years he produced several1 notably ,mr ,charles ,lloyd of ,birmingham and his wife1 which ,mr ,c4 ,j4 ,holmes describes as amateurish and uncertain in drawing and execution4 ,but there was nothing amateurish or uncertain about the ,portrait of a ,boy1 which ,i have lately seen1 a ruddy country boy1 clad in pretty town-like clothes1 an honest1 direct1 rich piece of work1 without a hint of affectation1 just the vision of the eye set down straightforwardly4 ,and the foxgloves that stand growing by the boy's right hand are painted as honestly as the striped pantaloons that this open-air boy wears4 ,just the kind of portrait that ,john ,constable would have painted4 ,he also produced two altarpieces--in #ahjd1 a ,christ ,blessing ,little ,children at ,brantham ,church1 ,suffolk2 and in #ahji1 a ,christ ,blessing the ,elements at ,nayland ,church4 ,eight years later1 in #ahag1 he painted ,flatford ,mill on the ,stour1 ,no4 #abgc in the ,national ,gallery1 which forms one of our illustrations4 ,constable was then forty-one1 a somewhat mature age for a man to produce what may fairly be called his first important picture4 ,but all his past life had been a preparation for this photographic1 pleasant transcript of ,english scenery4 ,nothing is left to the imagination1 everything is stated1 every inch of canvas is painted with equal force1 yet what an advance it is upon most of the classical landscapes then in vogue4 ,it is a picture of ,england1 ripe1 lush1 carefully composed1 carefully executed1 but fresh as are the meadows on the banks of the ,stour2 and the sky across which the large clouds are drifting is sunny4 ,this picture was bought in at the ,constable sale1 held the year after his death1 in #ahch1 for the very modest sum of thirty-three guineas4 ,the ,white ,horse1 called also ,a ,scene on the ,river ,stour1 exhibited at the ,royal ,academy in #ahai1 which is now in the possession of ,mr ,pierpont ,morgan1 was one of ,constable's early successes4 ,it attracted more attention than anything he had before exhibited1 and was bought for one hundred guineas1 exclusive of the frame1 by ,archdeacon ,fisher1 who wrote on #bgth ,april3--',the ,white ,horse' has arrived2 it is hung on a level with the eye1 the frame resting on the ogee moulding in a western side light1 right for the light in the picture4 ,it looks magnificently4 ,the ,white ,horse realised one hundred and fifty guineas at the ,constable sale1 and in #ahid1 fifty-six years later1 was bought by ,messrs ,agnew for six thousand two hundred guineas4 ,with ,the ,white ,horse ,constable also sent to the ,british ,gallery a picture called ,the ,mill1 which is supposed to be identical with the ,dedham ,mill1 ,essex1 at the ,victoria and ,albert ,museum4 #ahai was a successful year for ,constable1 a golden year4 ,he was summoned to ,bergholt to receive the four thousand pounds he had inherited from his father2 in this year ,mrs ,constable also inherited four thousand pounds2 and he was elected an ,associate of the ,royal ,academy4 ,it was in this year while at ,bergholt that he wrote to his wife from a grateful and overflowing heart a letter of which the following is an extract3--,everything seems full of blossom of some kind1 and at every step ,i take1 and on whatever subject ,i turn my eyes1 that sublime expression of the ,scriptures1 ',i am the resurrection and the life1' seems as if uttered near me4 ,there spoke the true landscape painter1 the man of deep feeling1 conscious that in his painting he was interpreting ,god's handiwork1 and expressing in his chosen medium the miracle of growth1 the eternal movement of ,nature from birth to re-birth4 ,when standing in that hall at the ,victoria and ,albert ,museum devoted to his achievement--growth1 growth1 growth--from pencil sketch to completed picture1 there are moments when those words of his seem uttered near to us4 ,dedham ,mill may look to our spoilt modern eyes a little tame1 but detach yourself from the present1 drift into harmony with the picture1 and you may perhaps invoke the spirit of the dead man who saw temperate beauty in this scene of his boyhood1 and who tried to state his love and gratitude laboriously with paint and brushes--poor tools to express the living light and life of ,nature4 ,two years later1 in #ahba1 at the age of forty-five1 he painted ,the ,hay ,wain1 to which ,i have referred at length in the opening chapter4 ,perhaps some day when the re-organisation of the ,national ,collections is complete1 it will be found possible to hang the brilliant full-sized sketch of ,the ,hay ,wain now at ,south ,kensington alongside the finished picture in the ,national ,gallery4 ,in the rough magnificent sketch you will observe that he had already begun to use the palette-knife freely in putting on the colour1 a practice to which he became more and more addicted4 ,,plate ,,viii4--,,salisbury4 ,national ,gallery4 ,a preliminary study1 without the rainbow1 for the large picture of ,salisbury from the ,meadows1 exhibited at the ,royal ,academy in #ahca4 ,it is larger than his usual sketches1 but shows no anxiety4 ,the hand following the eye stopped when the vision of the eye was recorded1 when all the hurry of the wet glitter of the scene had been stated in broken pigment4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,viii4--,,salisbury4 ,the ,hay ,wain established his fame2 but ,constable was not the man to sit down under success and repeat his triumphs in one particular method4 ,in the interval between the painting of ,the ,hay ,wain and its exhibition in ,paris1 he produced ,salisbury from the ,bishop's ,garden1 now in the ,south ,kensington collection1 wherein he attempted to represent the glitter of sunlight by spots of pure pigment which his friends called ,constable's snow4 ,to us1 accustomed to modern pictures of sunlight1 the spots and scumbles of pure pigment in ,salisbury ,cathedral from the ,bishop's ,garden are hardly noticeable1 but in #ahbc they were an innovation1 although not altogether a new discovery4 ,pinturicchio1 in his frescoes in the library of ,siena ,cathedral1 experimented in pointillism1 and you may trace it1 too1 in some of the pictures by ,vermeer of ,delft4 ,salisbury from the ,bishop's ,garden gave ,constable considerable trouble4 ,he was ill and his children were ill4 ,what with anxiety1 watching1 nursing1 and my own indisposition1 ,i have not see the face of my easel since ,christmas1 and it is not the least of my troubles that the good ,bishop's picture is not yet fit to be seen4 ,later he describes ,salisbury from the ,bishop's ,garden as the most difficult subject in landscape ,i ever had upon my easel1 adding that it looks uncommonly well1 and that ,i have not flinched at the windows1 buttresses1 etc41 but ,i have still kept to my grand organ colour1 and have1 as usual1 made my escape in the evanescence of the ,chiaroscuro4 ,the ,lock1 another of his well-known pictures1 was purchased from the ,royal ,academy ,exhibition of #ahbd by ,mr ,morrison for one hundred and fifty guineas1 including the frame4 ,the superb oil sketch for ,the ,lock was sold at ,christie's in #aija for nineteen hundred guineas4 ,it is an upright picture of sunshine and gusty wind1 and represents a lock-keeper opening the gates for the passage of a boat4 ,my ',lock' wrote ,constable to ,fisher1 is liked at the ,academy1 and indeed it forms a decided feature1 and its light cannot be put out1 because it is the light of ,nature1 the mother of all that is valuable in poetry1 painting1 or anything else where an appeal to the soul is required4444 ,but my execution annoys most of them1 and all the scholastic ones4 ,perhaps the sacrifices ,i make for lightness and brightness are too great1 but these things are the essence of landscape1 and my extreme is better than white-lead and oil1 and dado painting4 ,probably no other landscape painter has expressed the intention of his art as clearly in writing as with his brushes4 ,light6 ,the light of ,nature6 ,the mother of all that is valuable in painting6 ,that was ,constable's secret--the knowledge of light1 a secret that was hidden from the eyes of worthy ,sir ,george ,beaumont4 ,the ,leaping ,horse of #ahbe1 to which reference has already been made1 called by some his grandest painting1 reposes in the ,diploma ,gallery at ,burlington ,house4 ,several changes were made in the picture after its exhibition at the ,royal ,academy1 which the curious can verify by a study of the full-sized sketch at ,south ,kensington4 ,from this year onward the movement of ,nature and the brilliancy of objects in sunlight intrigued him more and more1 although his passion for light never reached the white-hot fervour of ,turner in his latter years4 ,for ,turner the sunrise1 a world almost too beautiful and evanescent to be real2 for ,constable the noonday glow1 the still heat haze1 seen between cool1 dark trees1 hovering over a field of ripe corn1 as in ,the ,cornfield1 painted when he was fifty--a typical ,constable4 ,constable was pleased with ,the ,cornfield4 ,writing of it to ,fisher he said3 ,it is not neglected in any part2 the trees are more than usually studied1 well defined as well as the stems2 they are shaken by a pleasant and healthful breeze at noon ',while now a fresher gale ,sweeping with shadowy gusts the fields of corn4444' ,this picture1 perhaps the best known and most popular of his works1 was presented to the ,national ,gallery in #ahcg1 by an association of gentlemen1 who purchased it of the painter's executors4 ,some of them wished to substitute for this gift the fine ,salisbury ,cathedral from the ,meadows with the rainbow1 of which the ,salisbury1 ,no4 #ahad1 in the ,national ,gallery1 is a study1 but the boldness of its execution we are told stood in its way1 and the ,cornfield was purchased instead4 ,the association of gentlemen need not have been apprehensive that the boldness of the execution of ,salisbury from the ,meadows would have frightened succeeding generations4 ,the ,munich ,secessionists would call it commonplace1 and the most old-fashioned member of the selecting committee of a current ,royal ,academy ,exhibition would see in it only a fine picture1 forcibly painted but too insistent on detail4 ,the landscape point of view has changed since #ahcg4 ,the magnificent ,opening of ,waterloo ,bridge which1 to those who had not seen it in ,sir ,charles ,tennant's collection1 came as a revelation when shown at the ,old ,masters' ,exhibition1 gave ,constable continuous trouble and anxiety4 ,he was years over it1 and he indulged in the vagaries of the palette-knife to an excess4 ,it was not understood3 it was not liked4 ,very unfinished1 sir1 was the comment of his friend1 ,thomas ,stothard1 ,r4,a42 and1 says ,leslie1 the picture was generally pronounced a failure4 ,this brilliant presentation of the ,king embarking at ,whitehall stairs1 the water dancing1 the air fluttering with gay banners and the sails of bright and sumptuous barges1 was hung next to a grey sea-piece by ,turner1 who promptly placed a bright spot of red lead in the foreground of his own grey picture4 ,the vivacity of ,constable's river fete lost something by that spot of vivid red4 ,turner has been here and fired a gun1 said ,constable4 ,the flash remained1 although in the last moments allowed for painting1 ,turner glazed the scarlet seal he had put upon his picture1 and shaped it into a buoy4 ,considerable doubt has been thrown on ,leslie's statement that soon after ,constable's death the picture was toned to the aristocratic taste of the period by a coat of blacking4 ,the picture bears no trace of a coat of mourning4 ,in the somewhat solemn and simple ,valley ,farm1 painted in #ahce1 two years before his death1 ,constable returned to the scenes of his boyhood1 to ,willy ,lett's house on the bank of the ,stour4 ,his hand and eye have lost something of their grip and freshness1 but his purpose is as firm as ever4 ,i have preserved ,god ,almighty's daylight1 he wrote1 which is enjoyed by all mankind1 excepting only the lovers of old dirty canvas1 perished pictures at a thousand guineas each1 cart grease1 tar1 and snuff of candle4 ,the old ,adam1 you perceive1 was still strong in him4 ,the ,cenotaph1 now in the ,national ,gallery1 was exhibited in the ,royal ,academy of #ahcf--the subject being the cenotaph erected by ,sir ,george ,beaumont in memory of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 a tribute of affection and respect4 ,it is somewhat heavy in treatment4 ,did ,constable1 ,i wonder1 realise that his work was nearly done8 ,was the uninspiriting ,cenotaph in his mind when1 in the autumn of this year1 he wrote so generously about the pictures that his great contemporary was exhibiting3--,turner has outdone himself2 he seems to paint with tinted steam1 so evanescent and so airy4 ,constable's last work was ,arundel ,mill and ,castle1 upon which he was engaged on the day of his death1 #cast ,march #ahcg4 ,his pictures are familiar to many who have not seen all the originals1 through ,david ,lucas's mezzotints4 ,the first series of twenty mezzotints was published in #ahcc under the title1 ,various ,subjects of ,landscape1 characteristic of ,english ,scenery1 principally intended to display the ,phenomena of the ,chiar'oscuro of ,nature4 ,constable devoted much attention to the enterprise during the remainder of his life1 inspired to make it as fine as possible by the example of ,claude's ,liber ,veritatis and ,turner's ,liber ,studiorum4 ,but its duration1 its expense1 its hopelessness of remuneration oppressed him4 ,it harasses my days and disturbs my rest at nights he wrote in #ahca4 ,constable took things hardly1 very hardly1 after his wife's death in #ahbh4 ,,chapter ,,vi ,,his ,,personality ,,and ,,opinions ,the personality of ,constable was not romantic4 ,in writing of him one has no moods of wonderment or bafflement1 and the pen is not tempted to flights of wonder or fancy4 ,the life of ,turner might inspire a poem2 but plain prose is the only vehicle for a consideration of the life of ,constable4 ,he was a sane1 level-headed man compact of common-sense and practicality1 a man of one great1 embracive idea3 that having studied the science of picture-making from the earlier masters1 the landscape painter must learn from ,nature and not from the derivative pictures of his contemporaries4 ,constable pursued that course with the single-heartedness of a man who devotes his life to some great commercial undertaking4 ,indeed the portraits of ,constable might represent a prosperous and cultured banker1 especially those of his later years1 were it not for the full1 observant eye that you feel surveys a wider domain than ,lombard ,street4 ,religious in the true sense1 dutiful1 humble before the mysteries of things2 old-fashioned in the true sense1 a lover and a quoter of good poetry and of the ,bible1 he had on occasion a sharp and shrewd tongue1 but the sting was salved by the absolute sincerity of his intention4 ,leslie devotes considerable space to a record of ,constable's opinions and sayings1 many of which have been quoted in these pages4 ,of a certain contemporary he said--,more over-bearing meekness ,i never met with in any one man4 ,of his own pictures he said--,they will never be popular1 for they have no handling4 ,but ,i do not see any handling in ,nature4 ,here is a saying about his art which sums up the whole tendency of his life--,whatever may be thought of my art1 it is my own2 and ,i would rather possess a freehold1 though but a cottage1 than live in a palace belonging to another4 ,and here is his comment on the unintelligent connoisseurship of his time--,the old rubbish of art1 the musty1 commonplace1 wretched pictures which gentlemen collect1 hang up1 and display to their friends1 may be compared to ,shakespeare's-- ',beggarly account of empty boxes1 ,alligators stuffed1' etc4 ,nature is anything but this1 either in poetry1 painting1 or in the fields4 ,the lectures on ,landscape ,painting that he delivered at the ,royal ,institution in ,albemarle ,street1 at the ,hampstead ,assembly ,rooms1 and at ,worcester were never written1 although an abstract of the first was found among his papers4 ,he spoke from brief notes and made much use of a number of copies and engravings affixed to the walls4 ,the notes taken by ,leslie and embodied in his ,life of ,constable are the only record we have apart from the abstract of the first lecture4 ,the belittlers of ,claude should make a note of ,constable's idolatry for him3--,in ,claude's landscape all is lovely--all amiable--all is amenity and repose2--the calm sunshine of the heart4 ,he carried landscape1 indeed1 to perfection1 that is1 human perfection4 ,constable selected four works as marking four memorable points in the history of landscape--,titian's ,peter ,martyr1 ,poussin's ,deluge1 ,rubens' ,rainbow1 and ,rembrandt's ,mill4 ,in the choice of the ,rubens and the ,rembrandt everybody must concur4 ,as ,constable never visited ,italy he can only have known the ,peter ,martyr from engravings4 ,it was destroyed by fire in #ahfg1 but a copy exists at ,s4 ,giovanni ,paolo in ,venice4 ,constable had the courage of his opinions1 and of all his opinions the most astonishing is his strong disapproval of a national collection of pictures4 ,in #ahbb he wrote--should there be a ,national ,gallery 7which is talked of7 there will be an end of the art in poor old ,england1 and she will become1 in all that relates to painting1 as much a nonentity as every other country that has one4 ,the reason is plain2 the manufacturers of pictures are then made the criterions of perfection1 instead of ,nature4 ,as a lecturer ,constable seems to have relied in a great measure on the inspiration of the moment4 ,leslie also records the charm of a most agreeable voice1 although pitched somewhat too low1 and the play of his very expressive countenance4 ,his survey of the history of landscape painting closed with an eulogy of ,wilson1 ,gainsborough1 ,cozens1 and ,girtin1 and ,i may close with a brief passage1 essential ,constable1 from the lecture delivered at ,hampstead on #beth ,july #ahcf4 ,the landscape painter must walk in the fields with a humble mind4 ,no arrogant man was ever permitted to see ,nature in all her beauty4 ,if ,i may be allowed to use a very solemn quotation1 ,i would say most emphatically to the student--',remember now thy ,creator in the days of thy youth4' ,the plates are printed by ,,bemrose ,,sons1 ,,ltd41 ,derby and ,london ,the text at the ,,ballantyne ,,press1 ,edinburgh ,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour ,,series ,,artist4 ,,author4 ,,velazquez4 ,s4 ,l4 ,bensusan4 ,,reynolds4 ,s4 ,l4 ,bensusan4 ,,turner4 ,c4 ,lewis ,hind4 ,,romney4 ,c4 ,lewis ,hind4 ,,greuze4 ,alys ,eyre ,macklin4 ,,botticelli4 ,henry ,e4 ,binns4 ,,rossetti4 ,lucien ,pissarro4 ,,bellini4 ,george ,hay4 ,,fra ,,angelico4 ,james ,mason4 ,,rembrandt4 ,josef ,israels4 ,,leighton4 ,a4 ,lys ,baldry4 ,,raphael4 ,paul ,g4 ,konody4 ,,holman ,,hunt4 ,mary ,e4 ,coleridge4 ,,titian4 ,s4 ,l4 ,bensusan4 ,,millais4 ,a4 ,lys ,baldry4 ,,carlo ,,dolci4 ,george ,hay4 ,,gainsborough4 ,max ,rothschild4 ,,tintoretto4 ,s4 ,l4 ,bensusan4 ,,luini4 ,james ,mason4 ,,franz ,,hals4 ,edgcumbe ,staley4 ,,van ,,dyck4 ,percy ,m4 ,turner4 ,,leonardo ,,da ,,vinci4 ,m4 ,w4 ,brockwell4 ,,rubens4 ,s4 ,l4 ,bensusan4 ,,whistler4 ,t4 ,martin ,wood4 ,,holbein4 ,s4 ,l4 ,bensusan4 ,,burne-,,jones4 ,a4 ,lys ,baldry4 ,,vigee ,,le ,,brun4 ,c4 ,haldane ,macfall4 ,,chardin4 ,paul ,g4 ,konody4 ,,fragonard4 ,c4 ,haldane ,macfall4 ,,memlinc4 ,w4 ,h4 ,j4 ,j4 ,c4 ,weale4 ,,constable4 ,c4 ,lewis ,hind4 ,,raeburn4 ,james ,l4 ,caw4 ,,john ,s4 ,,sargent4 ,t4 ,martin ,wood4 ,,lawrence4 ,s4 ,l4 ,bensusan4 ,d,ue,r,e,r4 ,h4 ,e4 ,a4 ,furst4 ,,millet4 ,percy ,m4 ,turner4 ,,watteau4 ,c4 ,lewis ,hind4 ,,hogarth4 ,c4 ,lewis ,hind4 ,,murillo4 ,s4 ,l4 ,bensusan4 ,,watts4 ,w4 ,loftus ,hare4 ,,ingres4 ,a4 ,j4 ,finberg4 ,others in ,preparation4