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John Constable

John Constable Biography

Painter

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“I have added some ploughmen to the landscape form the park pales which is a great help, but I must try and warm the picture a little more if I can... but I look to do a great deal better in future. I am determined to finish a small picture in the spot for every one I intend to make in future. But this I have always talked about but never yet done - I think however my mind is more settled and determined than ever on this point.”

IfsThinkingTryingMindLooksLittlesI CanDoneHelpingFormDealsWarmDeterminedSpotsLandscapeParksPaleI Am Determined
Author:John Constable
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“Still I should paint my own places best; painting is with me but another word for feeling, and I associate "my careless boyhood" with all that lies on the banks of the Stour; those scenes made me a painter, and I am grateful; that is, I had often thought of pictures of them before ever I touched a pencil, and your picture ['The White Horse'] is one of the strongest instance I can recollect of it.”

ShouldMadeStillsI CanFeelingsLyingMy OwnWhitePaintingSceneHorseGratefulPaintPainterInstanceTouchedStrongestAssociatesPencilsCarelessI Am GratefulBoyhoodWhite Horse
Author:John Constable
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“I ought to respect myself for my friends' sake, and my children's. It is time, at fifty-six, to begin, at least, to know oneself, - and I do know what I am not, and your regard for me has at least awakened me to believe in the possibility that I may yet make some impression with my "light" - my "dews" - my "breezes" - my bloom and freshness, - no one of which qualities has yet been perfected on the canvas of any painter in the world.”

KnowsWorldBelieveMayChildrenLightQualityPossibilityOughtSixMy FriendsRegardSakeOneselfImpressionPainterMy ChildrenFiftyCanvasBreezeAwakenedDewFreshnessKnowing Oneself
Author:John Constable
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“I am glad you encouraged me with the 'Stoke' [his painting 'Stoke-by-Nayland', circa 1835] What say you to a summer morning? July or August, at eight or nine o'clock, after a slight shower during the night, to enhance the dews in the shadowed part of the picture, under 'Hedge row elms and hillocks green.' Then the plough, cart, horse, gate, cows, donkey, &c. are all good paintable material for the foreground, and the size of the canvas sufficient to try one's strength, and keep one at full collar.”

TryingNightMorningPaintingMaterialsSummerHorseGreenSizeEightGladNineClockSufficientGatesCowsCanvasShowersJulyDewAugustCollarsCartsDonkeyForegroundStoke
Author:John Constable
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“It is much to my advantage that several of my pictures should be seen together, as it displays to advantage their varieties of conception and also of execution, and what they gain by the mellowing hand of time which should never be forced or anticipated. Thus my pictures when first coming forth have a comparative harshness which at the time acts to my disadvantage.”

ShouldFirstsHandsTogetherGainsAdvantageVarietyConceptionDisplayExecutionDisadvantagesHarshness
Book:Correspondence
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“I have likewise made many 'skies' and effects - for I wish it could be said of me as Fuselli says of Rembrandt, 'he followed nature in her calmest abodes and could pluck a flower on every hedge - yet he was born to cast a steadfast eye on the bolder phenomena of nature'... We have had noble clouds & effects of light & dark & color.”

MadeSaidLightEyeWishBornDarkSkyEffectsColorFlowerCloudsCastsNobleSteadfastPluckAbodeLight DarkDark Colors
Book:John Constable's Correspondence
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“I am anxious that the world should be inclined to look to painters for information about painting. I hope to show that ours is a regularly taught profession; that it is scientific as well as poetic; that imagination alone never did, and never can, produce works that are to stand by a comparison with realities.”

WorldShouldWellsLooksShowsRealityImaginationInformationProduceTaughtPaintingProfessionPainterComparisonPoeticAnxious
Book:Delphi Collected Works of John Constable (Illustrated)
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“The first impression and a natural one is, that the fine arts have risen or declined in proportion as patronage has been given to them or withdrawn, but it will be found that there has often been more money lavished on them in their worst periods than in their best, and that the highest honours have frequently been bestowed on artists whose names are scarcely now known.”

FirstsHas BeensArtArtistFoundNamesGivenNaturalKnownWorstFinePeriodsHighestImpressionProportionHonourMore MoneyRisenFine ArtsFirst ImpressionPatronage
Book:Delphi Collected Works of John Constable (Illustrated)
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“He [the artist] ought to have 'these powerful organs of expression' - colour and chiaroscuro - entirely at his command, that he may use them in every possible form, as well as that he may do with the most perfect freedom; therefore, whether he wishes to make the subject of a joyous, solemn, or meditative character, by flinging over it the cheerful aspect which the sun bestows, by a proper disposition of shade, or by the appearances that beautify its arising or its setting, a true "General Effect" should never be lost sight of.”

ShouldWellsMayCharacterUseFormArtistLostWishPerfectPowerfulSunSubjectsEffectsExpressionOughtAspectSightAppearanceSettingCommandSettingsColourOver ItShadeOrgansDispositionCheerfulSolemnJoyousChiaroscuro
Author:John Constable
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“My picture [A Boat Passing a Lock, 1823-6] is liked at the [Royal] Academy, indeed it forms a decided feature and its light can not be put out. Because it is the light of nature - the Mother of all that is valuable in poetry - painting or anything else... my execution annoys most of them and all the scholastic ones - perhaps the scarifies I make for 'lightness' and 'brightness' is too much but these things are the essence of Landscape.”

LightFormMotherToo MuchPaintingDecidedEssenceValuablePassingPassingsBoatLandscapeFeaturesAnnoyingExecutionLocksCan NotRoyalAcademyBrightnessLightnessScholastics
Author:John Constable
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“Painting is a science, and should be pursued as an inquiry into the laws of nature. Why, then, may not landscape painting be considered as a branch of natural philosophy, of which pictures are but the experiments?”

ShouldMayPhilosophyLawScienceNatureNaturalPaintingExperimentsLandscapeBranchesInquiryLaws Of NaturePursuedNatural PhilosophyLandscape Painting
Book:John Constable's Skies: A Fusion of Art and Science
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“The output is far from smooth, and the impact on dispatchable plant required to deal with residual demand is highly significant. Our view is that plant operating under these conditions in the support role for wind will suffer: 1) reduced availability, 2) significantly reduced efficiency, and thus 3) higher emissions per MWh generated.”

SufferingViewsDealsRolesSupportConditionsWindHigherDemandImpactPlantSignificantEfficiencySmoothEmissionsOutputAvailabilityResidual
Author:John Constable
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