John Constable :: Biography Biographical Painter Artist Essays

John Constable John Constable was born on June 11, 1776, in East Bergholt, Suffolk. As a young man he worked for his father in the family business at a flour mill. In 1799, Constable decided to leave the flour mill so that he could study at the Royal Academy School. His first landscape painting was in 1802 and after that he studied painting and English Rural life on his own. Constable developed a distinctly individual style. His paintings were "executed in the open air rather than in a studio, as was customary, was an innovation in English art. Constable departed from the traditions of Dutch and English painting by discarding the usual brown under painting and achieving more luminous lighting effects through the use of broken bits of color applied with a palette knife. The Dedham Vale, The Cornfield, The Leaping Horse, and The Hay Wain are great examples of Constable's individual style and how he was a Romantic Painter. One of Constable's first important paintings was Dedham Vale of 1802 and the Dedham Vale of 1828. These paintings "repeat intrinsically the composition of that compact gem - like scene" (Reynolds,21). The Dedham Vale of 1828 was painted from a topographical point of view. "The painting shows a view from the hill bordering the Stour Valley. Constable loved the view from the Stour Valley so much, that he drew from almost the same spot in several sketches and painted at least three versions in oil." Constable described the Dedham Vale as, "perhaps my best." Because Constable painted in the open air rather than in a studio, his attention to detail is almost unmatched. The way "he catches the sunlight in blobs of pure white and yellow." Maybe Constable sums it up well when he says; "I should paint my own places best - painting is but another word for feeling. I associate my "careless boyhood" to all that lies on the banks of Stour. They made me a painter and I am grateful" (Reynolds, 31). Constable's next painting is a good example of his Romantic style. The Cornfield, painted in 1826, shows his Romantic vision of the countryside. The landscape is of the Suffolk countryside with "lovely valleys and peaceful farmhouses." As a young boy Constable would travel down that lane from East Bergholt to the Vale at Dedham on his way to school. There are a number of elements in the Cornfield that Constable focused on.