John Constable
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Who was John Constable? Painter.

Date and Place of Birth: 11th June 1776, East Bergholt, Suffolk, England.

Family Background: Son of a wealthy mill owner.

Education: Royal Academy Schools, London.

Chronology:

1794: Worked for a year in his father’s mill but the wealthy landscape painter and art patron Sir George Beaumont encouraged his family to send him to the Royal Academy Schools.

1802: Exhibited his first painting at the Royal Academy.

1819: Elected Associate of the Royal Academy.

1824: Had a success at the Paris Salon with “The Haywain” winning a Gold Medal.

1825: Gold Medal success at Lille with “White Horse”.

1828: On the death his father-in-law he inherited £20,000 and was able to devote himself entirely to landscape painting.

1829: Elected Full Member of the Royal Academy.

His style particularly encompassed the changing light on a landscape and the movement of clouds across the sky.

His later years were saddened by bereavement, ill health and depression but he continued painting, although many of his landscapes went unsold.

Paintings:

  • 1819: “View on the Stour”. Exhibited at the Royal Academy
  • 1820: “The Haywain”. Exhibited at the Royal Academy (National Gallery, London)
  • 1823: “Salisbury Cathedral.” (Victoria and Albert Museum, London).

Marriage: 1816: Maria Bicknell, Died 1827.

Places of Interest:

AVON:

City Art Gallery, Bristol.

CAMBRIDGESHIRE:

Eltham Hall, Peterborough.
Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.

DEVON:

Knightshayes Court.

ESSEX:

Beecroft Art Gallery, Southend.

GLOUCESTERSHIRE:

Suddeley Castle.

LANCASHIRE:

Burnley Art Gallery.
Bury Art Gallery.

LEICESTERSHIRE:

Museum and Art Gallery, Leicester.

LONDON:

Fenton House.
National Gallery, Trafalgar Square.
Tate Britain, Millbank.
Victoria and Albert Museum.

GREATER MANCHESTER:

Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchetser.
City Art Gallery, Manchester.

MERSEYSIDE:

Lady Lever Gallery, Port Sunlight, Wirral.

NORTHUMBERLAND:

Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle.

SUFFOLK:

Christchurch Mansion.
St. Jame's Church.

SURREY:

Ham House, Richmond.
Royal Holloway College, Egham.

WARWICKSHIRE: Upton House.

WEST MIDLANDS:

Herbert Art Gallery, Coventry.
New Art Gallery, Walsall.

YORKSHIRE:

Rochdale Art Gallery.
Ferens art Gallery, Hull.

City Art Gallery, Leeds.
The Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield.

WALES:

Glynn Vivien Art Gallery, Swansea

Date and Place of Death: 31st March 1837, London, England.

Age at Death: 61.

Site of Grave: St. John’s Churchyard, Church Row, Hampstead, London, England.