According to Wikipedia, John Constable (June 11, 1776 – March 31, 1837) "was an English landscape painter in the Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home – now known as Constable Country – which he invested with an intensity of affection. 'I should paint my own places best,' he wrote to his friend John Fisher in 1821, 'painting is but another word for feeling.'
"Constable's most famous paintings include Wivenhoe Park (1816), Dedham Vale (1821) and The Hay Wain (1821). Although his paintings are now among the most popular and valuable in British art, he was never financially successful. His work was embraced in France, where he sold more than in his native England and inspired the Barbizon school.
"In his youth, Constable embarked on amateur sketching trips in the surrounding Suffolk and Essex countryside, which was to become the subject of a large proportion of his art. These scenes, in his own words, 'made me a painter, and I am grateful;' 'the sound of water escaping from mill dams etc., willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork, I love such things.'
"His early style has many qualities associated with his mature work, including a freshness of light, color and touch, and reveals the compositional influence of the old masters he had studied, notably of Claude Lorrain.
"John and Maria [Bicknell] were married in October 1816 at St Martin-in-the-Fields...followed by time at [Bishop John] Fisher's vicarage and a honeymoon tour of the south coast. The sea at Weymouth and Brighton stimulated Constable to develop new techniques of brilliant color and vivacious brushwork. At the same time, a greater emotional range began to be expressed in his art.
"After the birth of their seventh child in January 1828, Maria fell ill and died of tuberculosis on November 23 at the age of 41. Intensely saddened, Constable wrote to his brother Golding, 'hourly do I feel the loss of my departed Angel—God only knows how my children will be brought up...the face of the World is totally changed to me.'
"Thereafter, he dressed in black and was 'a prey to melancholy and anxious thoughts.' He cared for his seven children alone for the rest of his life.
"Constable quietly rebelled against the artistic culture that taught artists to use their imagination to compose their pictures rather than nature itself. He said, 'When I sit down to make a sketch from nature, the first thing I try to do is to forget that I have ever seen a picture.'
'In addition to the full-scale oil sketches, Constable completed numerous observational studies of landscapes and clouds, determined to become more scientific in his recording of atmospheric conditions."
Below are six pictures that Olivia studied. When she was done, she shared what she remembered about each one.
The Hay Wain
1821 - National Gallery, London
Olivia remembered:
- In the picture, there is a little farm and that farm appears to have one of those water mills or water wheel places.
- The main focus of the picture appears to be this cart that is being pulled by ox or four horses. There are two men on the cart and the cart is in the water.
- To the right of the picture, also on the little stream or lake, there is a canoe (it looks like a canoe - it's a boat of some sort) and there's a person in it and he has a big pole. I don't know if it's cutting the reeds. I think it's edible stuff because he's cutting it and putting it on his boat.
- There are also two ducks on this little lake and to the left of the picture, there is the house and the shore with a dog on the shore and there is a red ball behind him.
- The house is white and it has a brick base that is kind of a reddish color and the roof is the same color as the bricks.
- On the other side of the house - kind of hiding - there appears to be a woman wearing an orange skirt and a dark blue top. There are great big trees that are at the edge of the property and it's where the little lake narrows into a stream.
- In the distance you can see there is a big meadow that is serving as a pasture; and there are some groves of trees in this meadow along with some white animals next to the tree line.
- In the right corner of the picture, there appears to be wood or maybe rocks that are in the stream.
- The sky is blue with clouds.
- The trees all have leaves on them.
- I don't know why the cart is in the water - it looks like the people who are in it are trying to figure out how to get it out of the water.
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Wivenhoe Park
1816 - Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Olivia remembered:
- In the picture, there are cows and people.
- There appears to be a very wide river and on the left end of where the river turns into a lake possibility there is a dam.
- There also is a wooden fence cutting through the picture a little bit on the left side.
- You have some cows eating the grass.
- On the lake there is a boat and there are two people who look like they are trying to fish, but one of the people is leaning close to the edge because there are two swans in the water. I think he is trying to feed them, but the boat is going to tip.
- On the other side of the lake, there are trees and what looks like a little bit of a path, and there are people walking and in the far-off distance you can see a big red building.
- The sky is kind of like the previous picture - cloudy, but kind of sunny.
- There is a big grove of trees by the lake.
- I can't tell if there are people in front of the grove of trees or not.
- You can see parts of the trees and the sky reflected in the lake.
- One of the fisherman is wearing a red shirt.
- There are three black and white cows and one black cow.
- It looks like it is summer because there are leaves on the trees and it is very green.
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Dedham Vale
1828 - Oil on canvas, National Galleries of Scotland
Olivia remembered:
- In the picture, you can see trees and buildings and hills. When you look closer, you notice that the very front of the picture there is a little bit of a hill, and sheltered by the hill is a little campsite.
- There is a tent and a man tending to the fire and he is wearing a red shirt, and to the right of him - if you go to the right of the hill you can see where the crest of the hill goes and comes back down. On the slope is a cow.
- Peeking up behind the hill is a house. There is smoke coming out of the chimney.
- If you look past the campsite, you can see there is a river and there are some cows alongside the river. There's another house or barn surrounded by trees.
- If you look past that house, there is a big open plot of land surrounded by trees on one side and you can see what look like cows in the pasture. Behind the trees, surrounding the land, you can see a city with a big tower. Way past that it looks like a shoreline to a really big lake or the ocean.
- This picture has a lot of hills and trees, and everything is very green - like the rest of his pictures.
- The clouds - there are a lot of them in the sky. You can't really see the blue sky or the sun. So, it looks like it is about to rain possibly.
- The trees all look like they are deciduous trees mixed with maybe a few pine trees.
- To the left of the campsite, there is another cluster of trees. Some of the trees have white bark.
- His campsite is very dark.
- The house that is above the hill has some yellow on it.
- It looks like it could be early Fall or late Summer.
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Weymouth Bay
1816 - National Gallery, London
Olivia remembered:
- This picture takes place on a bay. In the distance, you can see a big hill. On that hill, is land that looks like it is ready to be farmed.
- The land is all brown and everything else surrounding that is all green.
- There's a fence leading down from the hill and it looks like it is separating the two pieces of land. It looks like there should be animals on one side.
- At the base of the hill - a little ways away from it - is a person - a man - dressed in a white shirt. It looks like he is standing next to something - maybe an animal (but you can't see what it is).
- At the edge of the picture, closest to people, you see a bunch of rocks that haven't been turned into sand yet.
- To the right of the rocks, extending outwards slightly, is a cliff made out of rocks.
- A lot of these rocks are light in color.
- You can tell it is a little bit windy out because of the waves.
- On the side of the fence furthest from the water there is a dark patch of land, but not brown, like it is soil. It's like dark-colored plants.
- The man looks like he is standing in some tall grasses.
- The sky is a little big cloudy - not too cloudy.
- You can see the white foam from the small waves.
- If you look to the cloud to the left - it kind of looks like a hippo or a small clown car.
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The Cornfield
1826 - National Gallery, London
Olivia remembered:
- In the picture, you see a path with trees on either side of it. It seems to be kind of a hilly land because on the left side you have a little bit of a hill, but it goes down a bit to line up with the path.
- On the right side, it is raised a little bit.
- On the path, there is a flock of sheep being led by a shepherd. There is a sheep dog following along behind the sheep.
- To the left of the picture, is a little stream and there's a boy next to the stream kneeling down.
- There also is a black sack that could be food or something or even possibly an animal, but I think it's a sack of food.
- Above the stream is a cornfield.
- If you look between the trees on either side of the path, there is a single lone tree. Next to that tree is some sort of shiny thing - maybe a little barn with metal on it or something. It's definitely round on top.
- Next to the path, kind of going straight, you can see a wooden thing that looks like it was an old cart.
- In the sky, he seems to have a thing for clouds because it's a cloudy day, but it's also sunny and at the top left hand corner of the picture, it looks dark - like it's going to storm.
- In the distance, you can see where hills come up and fields.
- You can't see any buildings or cities or even water. The only water you see is the little stream.
- The tree on the right side if you close one eye and look at, looks like a t-rex. The leaves at the top that stick out look like the browbone and then the leaves that stick down are where the teeth should be, and then there are other leaves that look like a tongue.
- The season looks like it would be a late-Summer. The corn looks like it is ready to be harvested. It could be Fall.
- The season looks like it would be a late-Summer. The corn looks like it is ready to be harvested. It could be Fall.
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Seascape Study with Rain Cloud
1824 - Royal Academy of Arts, London
Olivia remembered:
- This picture is rather dark and gloomy.
- It kind of also has a slight abstract feel to it.
- The water is wavy and kind of choppy.
- You can see the white foam on top of the waves.
- You also see a lighthouse if you look down the center of the photo.
- There also appears to be another lighthouse to the right or rock cropping sticking out.
- At the top, you have all the clouds.
- Some of the clouds are traditional, fluffy, friendly-looking clouds. Then you have the clouds that look like they have rain coming down from them.
- The clouds that look like the rain coming down - look like big brushstrokes that haven't been evened out.
- You can see a little bit of the beach. You can see the sand though.
- Mostly dark grays, light gray, and tan for the sky are used. You have the white for some of the clouds and the foam. And you have some blues for the water and some mixed in with the clouds.
- Mostly dark grays, light gray, and tan for the sky are used. You have the white for some of the clouds and the foam. And you have some blues for the water and some mixed in with the clouds.
- The main focus is the clouds. That definitely takes up a lot of the room.
1 comment:
Oh, I love his work! You can tell how much he loved the land where he lived. I can see why he is popular now. :)
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