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Portrait of the Artist

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Portrait of the Artist EVENING STANDARD FRIDAY 19 SEPTEMBER 2014 101 Travel DETAILS: ESSEX Constable’s Constable: The county: Willy Making of a Lott’s House as Master seen in the Hay (September 20 to Wain (inset), January 11 2015), his most vam.ac.uk famous picture Milsoms and Maison Talbooth have Constable in Dedham breaks from £100 and £165 respectively per night B&B with three-course dinner, Constable map and entry to the Munnings Collection, milsomhotels. com ■ Visitessex.com PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST IRDS twitter and the layers of As a new exhibition flanked by fields lies Flatford Mill, a landscape artist Thomas Gainsbor- ham. The parish church of St Mary is green — fields, hedgerows and sprawling redbrick structure also ough, Constable liked to include real home to an original Constable, The ancient trees — are dewy in the re-examining the owned by Constable’s father. It lies working people the land in his paint- Ascension, one of only three religious early morning sun. This adjacent to Willy Lott’s House — this ings. paintings to have been commissioned B unspoilt patch of north Essex paintings of grade I listed thatched cottage, named And although you could hold up for churches in his native Stour Valley. countryside, rubbing shoulders with after the tenant farmer who lived in it, many of his works and see the view is You can walk in and view the painting neighbouring Suffolk, is the area Constable starts at is now used as accommodation for field pretty much the same as he painted, hung modestly above a side door. known as Constable Country — after studies students. Constable liked to tinker with the truth, I stop for a long lunch at Le Talbooth. the Romantic painter John Constable, the V&A tomorrow, Several paintings immortalise this often removing or adding trees and There is no need for guilt among all who was so inspired by the bucolic rural corner including Flatford Mill figures. In the V&A exhibition you can this gluttony as Constable, like Gains- landscape of his childhood. It’s an Jo Fernández from a lock on the Stour, Scene on a spot the final version of the Hay Wain borough, wasn’t your classic impover- Essex far from the usual lairy cliché, Navigable River (Flatford Mill) and The lacks the boy on a horse (which can be ished artist. I’m sure he would have but just an hour from London. explores the Essex Hay Wain — Constable’s best-known seen on the full-scale oil sketch) while approved of the three-course feast I You could be in any century, as there work. The Leaping Horse sees the tree in the ate, sitting outside on a terrace by the is little of the modern world — bar the idyll that inspired It is worth remembering that before full-scale oil sketch move from the right river fringing the manicured grounds odd jutting pylon — to ruin the views of Constable the countryside was not to off-centre. (the low rumble of cars on the A12 qui- grassy meadows, chocolate-box much of his work considered to be an acceptable subject Dedham, a designated area of out- etly audible, but not detracting from villages and rolling farmland. Maison for serious painters, with set rules on standing natural beauty, lies at the the experience) involving crisp tem- Talbooth, a pleasingly pink 12-bedroom Bridge Cottage, once owned by his how nature should be depicted. Con- heart of the area where the artist grew pura of soft shell crab with a tangy Victorian country house in the heart father and then by the National Trust sidered by some to be dull and garish, up, walking to the town’s grammar pickled ginger and sardine dressing of the Vale of Dedham, affords us pam- since 1943, houses a small exhibition his work wasn’t popular for a long time school each morning alongside the and lemon meringue cheesecake. pered guests views across the very (mind your head on the low beams) but — except in France — he was only made River Stour from his family home in I find myself rolling — like the sur- fields and rooftops that Constable fea- is expanding this along with renova- a Royal Academician at the age of 53. East Bergholt. rounding countryside — to the car, tured in many of his paintings. Named tions to take the building back to how Undeterred and inspired by fellow local Many of his paintings feature Ded- ending my tour with a drive to Castle after English poets, lavish suites it would have been in his era. House. This lovely part Tudor/part include the spacious ground-floor Stand on the bridge here, across the Georgian pile was owned by artist Sir Keats with a terrace (dogs are allowed) River Stour that laps at the edges of Alfred Munnings, also the son of an graced with a hot tub and children’s much of this region, and survey all that East Anglian miller, who referred to it room with Xbox and PlayStation. inspired the artist, including Flatford as the “house of my dreams”. The warmest of staff whisk guests by Lock and the well-trodden footpath A lover of landscapes, inspired by Range Rover to its sister restaurant, Le stretching across the meadow to childhood visits to Flatford and the Talbooth, which appears in Constable’s Dedham (a 40-minute walk). work of Constable, he moved to Ded- The Vale of Dedham (and in my tour The adjoining teashop is now a well- ham in 1919. A prolific artist, after his of Constable sights later), which hangs designed glass box with a terrace open- death his wife opened the vast house in the Scottish National Gallery detail- ing onto the lock providing an almost and gardens to the public in 1961, ing the view from Gun Hill, where Le Disneyish effect in the sunlight with the revealing a body of some 650 pieces Talbooth is located, towards Dedham twitter of birdsong. Although I’m sure with subjects ranging from racehorses church near his father’s watermill (now many of the tea-drinking retirees here to war to Cornish coves. flats). This prompted Constable’s elec- were here as much for scone of the But this corner of England will forever tion to the Royal Academy. month — with delicious apples and be associated with Constable, revealing Nearby is the hamlet of Flatford, blackberries plucked from the hedge- landscapes that have changed little which features in much of Constable’s rows — than for the view. over 200 years. Nature has almost work. Cutely thatched 16th-century Further along the gently curving lane Fine art fare: Le Talbooth restaurant appears in Constable’s The Vale of Dedham stood still..
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  • Constable Free
    FREE CONSTABLE PDF John Sunderland | 128 pages | 12 Aug 1998 | Phaidon Press Ltd | 9780714827544 | English | London, United Kingdom Constable | Definition of Constable by Merriam-Webster John Constableborn June 11, Constable, East Bergholt, SuffolkEngland—died March 31,Constablemajor figure in English landscape painting in the early 19th century. The son of a wealthy miller and merchant who owned a substantial house and small farm, Constable was reared in a small Suffolk village. The environs of his childhood and his understanding of its rural economy would later figure prominently in his work. In February he made himself known to the influential academician Joseph Farington, and in March he entered the prestigious Royal Academy schools, with the grudging approval of his father. Constable the Constable, art academies stressed Constable painting as the most appropriate subject Constable for their students, but from the beginning Constable showed a particular interest in landscape. In Constable refused the stability of a post as drawing master at a military academy so that he could instead dedicate himself to landscape painting and to studying nature Constable in the English countryside. That same year he exhibited his work at the Royal Academy for the first time. Despite some early explorations in oil, in the first part of this Constable he preferred using watercolour and graphic media in Constable studies of nature. He produced fine studies in these media during a trip to Constable famously picturesque Lake District in autumnbut his exhibitions of these works in both and were unsuccessful in attracting public notice. Although based in London during this period, Constable would frequently make extended visits to his native East Bergholt to sketch.
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  • Changes in the Appearance of Paintings by John Constable
    return to list of Publications and Lectures Changes in the Appearance of Paintings by John Constable Charles S. Rhyne Professor, Art History Reed College published in Appearance, Opinion, Change: Evaluating the Look of Paintings Papers given at a conference held jointly by the United Kingdom institute for Conservation and the Association of Art Historians, June 1990. London: United Kingdom Institute for Conservation, 1990, p.72-84. Abstract This paper reviews the remarkable diversity of changes in the appearance of paintings by one artist, John Constable. The intention is not simply to describe changes in the work of Constable but to suggest a framework for the study of changes in the work of any artist and to facilitate discussion among conservators, conservation scientists, curators, and art historians. The paper considers, first, examples of physical changes in the paintings themselves; second, changes in the physical conditions under which Constable's paintings have been viewed. These same examples serve to consider changes in the cultural and psychological contexts in which Constable's paintings have been understood and interpreted Introduction The purpose of this paper is to review the remarkable diversity of changes in the appearance of paintings by a single artist to see what questions these raise and how the varying answers we give to them might affect our work as conservators, scientists, curators, and historians. [1] My intention is not simply to describe changes in the appearance of paintings by John Constable but to suggest a framework that I hope will be helpful in considering changes in the paintings of any artist and to facilitate comparisons among artists.
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  • John Constable (1776-1837)
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  • Corporate Branding Along The
    In an artist’s footsteps… 4 miles Flatford and Constable Country www.nationaltrust.org.uk/walks Explore the picturesque Stour Valley and Dedham Vale made famous by the paintings th The Cattawade Marshes of 18 century England’s foremost landscape artist. John Constable painted many are a great place to spot idyllic views of the area in his famous six-foot canvases, scenes which remain easily waterfowl and waders. The recognisable today. Little Egret can also be seen fishing in streams and How to get here & local facilities ditches downstream of Flatford. Train: Regular service to Manningtree station – London Liverpool Street to Ipswich line Buses: Services to Manningtree station and Dedham from Colchester and Ipswich © NTPL / Chris Gomersall Cycling: The Painter’s Trail cycle route passes through the Stour Valley to Manningtree station Road: Car park at Manningtree station, Flatford and Dedham Willy Lott’s house and the Map & grid ref: OS Landranger 168, Explorer 196, TM 093 322 mill pond at Flatford, immortalised by Constable WC at Manningtree Station, Flatford and Dedham villages. National Trust riverside tea-room in ‘The Hay Wain’ and other and shop at Flatford, other shops and pubs at Dedham. Flatford Bridge Cottage exhibition paintings. on Constable. © NTPL / John Miller Things to look out for… Cattawade marshes: this is where the freshwater of the Stour meets the tidal estuary. The banks are protected from very high tides by a new barrier further downstream. Fifty Panoramic views captured in Six Gates, is the original flood defence designed to stop salt water inundating the low- ‘Dedham Vale morn’, look out lying Dedham Vale.
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  • The Hay Wain
    “Painting is a science and should be pursued as an inquiry into the laws of nature. Why, then, may not a landscape be considered as a branch of natural philosophy, of which pictures are but experiments?” “Painting is but another word for feeling” Constable quietly rebelled against the artistic culture that taught artists to use their imagination to compose their pictures rather than nature itself. He told to a friend of his, “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 The Hay Wain John Constable chose to paint a rural landscape which runs into the distance in sun-drenched meadows, offset by the cool waters of the pool in the foreground. The theme of this painting is very much rural life and the beauty of the landscape which the artist loved so much. The Hay Wain is based on a site near Flatford on the river Stour, in Suffolk, England. The hay wain itself is a type of horse-drawn cart which would have been a common piece of agricultural equipment used during the artist's youth. The cottage on the left of the image was rented by a farmer and stands behind Flatford Mill, owned by Constable's father. Across the meadow in the distance on the right, a group of haymakers can be seen working. The farm workers are hard at work but seem contended and are surrounded by beautiful scenery. All of these aspects illustrate Constable's idyllic view of his home county of Suffolk.
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  • Constable Country
    CONSTABLE COUNTRY Stepping off the train into the tranquil surrounds of the Stour Valley on the Suffolk-Essex border, Sue Watt discovers the lowland landscapes immortalised by one of England’s greatest Romantic painters “I imagine this must be one of the most My guide met me at Manningtree station and, photographed scenes in England,” said my within minutes, we were sauntering along a country guide Bob Finch as we approached Willy Lott’s path bordered by thickets just holding on to the last House. “Old Willy lived here all his life, died of the season’s blackberries. “In the spring, these at 88, and apparently only ever spent four nights hedgerows are bursting with birdsong,” Bob told away from this place.” me. The River Stour then came into view, partially No wonder he never wanted to leave: his 16th- obscured by reeds as tall as me. century home lies on the banks of a millpond in Our route meandered gently around Dedham the serene surrounds of Dedham Vale. Its fame Vale and Stour Valley, an Area of Outstanding today has little to do with Willy himself, though. Natural Beauty on the Suffolk-Essex borders, with Rather, the house has been immortalised in The quintessentially English lowlands of lush green Hay Wain, perhaps the best-known painting by one meadows and barely a hill in sight. of England’s most famous artists, John Constable. Constable was born in nearby East Bergholt That morning I’d happily left central London in 1776 and grew up here, attending school at behind, full of commuters rushing to work in their Dedham and then working in his father’s mill smart city suits and sombre moods.
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  • The Wheelchair-Friendly Walk
    The Wheelchair-friendly Walk • Allows those who are wheelchair bound to enjoy the scenery of Dedham Vale. • A chance to see Bridge Cottage (where there is a small, free exhibition about Main Features Constable), Flatford Mill and Willy Lott's cottage. Don't miss the dry dock, which is of the Walk located next to the tea room. • Apart from one hump-back bridge and a downhill run from the car park, the route is virtually flat, and is not normally muddy. The walk starts in the car park at Flatford (which is reached via East Bergholt) and allows the Outline Route sights on the north side of the river to be viewed before progressing along the tow path on the south side of the river as far as Judas Gap. Return is by retracing steps. Approximate Distance Up to 1 1/2 miles. Approx. Completion Allow at least one hour for the entire walk. Time Toilet Provisions There are public toilets at Flatford, on the north bank of the river close to the hump-back bridge. Suggested Car Parking In the Flatford car park, about 200 yards from the river. Eating and During the summer months the tea room at Flatford is open, serving drinks and light snacks. Drinking There are several pubs in East Bergholt (about 1/2 mile from the Flatford car park). The route is shown on the map below in yellow highlight. Turn back when you think you have Shortcuts used up about half your energy! Page 1 of 3 Directions Distance from start (miles) Set off downhill from the Flatford car 0 park At the bottom of the hill (before the hump back bridge) turn left 0.1 (eastwards).
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  • The Remarkable Story of the 'Six-Foot Sketches
    Charles Rhyne The Remarkable Story of the ‘Six - FootSketches ’ Some of the most challenging questions about Constable’s art concern the meaning of his so-called ‘six-foot sketches’. What was their The Remarkable purpose? What was their relationship to his matching exhibition pictures? Are they preparatory studies or alternative versions of the Storyof the ‘Six - exhibited paintings? Do they disclose the ‘real Constable’?1 To what extent do they constitute an unprecedented form of art? Why is there Foot Sketches’ not a single reference to the idea of full-size sketches in Constable’s voluminous correspondence, even with his family and intimate Charles Rhyne friends? Why, at auction, did they sell at almost giveaway prices? Why has a distinguished authority described them as ‘Constable’s supreme achievement’, and even ‘the greatest thing in English art’?2 Why has the authenticity of so many of them been doubted even by leading scholars? Why has it taken so long for them to be considered as a group? To what extent do we understand them even today? Identifying the Full-Size Sketches Even identifying which objects should be considered large, full-size sketches is problematic. In spite of C.R. Leslie’s defining 1855 figure 15 statement that ‘Constable made a sketch of the full size of every large picture he painted’,3 we are still struggling to identify the sketches to full-size sketches private. Did he show them to, or discuss them with, which Leslie referred. Often called Constable’s ‘six-foot sketches’ by intimate friends or visitors to his studio? later authors, only six of his large, full-size sketches correspond closely Various friends, collectors, dealers and artists visited Constable with this measurement.4 Of the others often thought of as part of the at his studio at No.
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  • John Constable: Clouds Barbara Wood-Prince Lake Forest College
    Lake Forest College Lake Forest College Publications All-College Writing Contest 5-1-1985 John Constable: Clouds Barbara Wood-Prince Lake Forest College Follow this and additional works at: http://publications.lakeforest.edu/allcollege_writing_contest Part of the History of Art, Architecture, and Archaeology Commons Recommended Citation Wood-Prince, Barbara, "John Constable: Clouds" (1985). All-College Writing Contest. http://publications.lakeforest.edu/allcollege_writing_contest/29 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Lake Forest College Publications. It has been accepted for inclusion in All-College Writing Contest by an authorized administrator of Lake Forest College Publications. For more information, please contact [email protected]. JOHN CONSTABLE: CLOUDS by Barbara Wood-Prince I am the daughter of Earth and Water, And the nursling of the Sky; I pass through the pores of ocean shores; I change, but I cannot die. For after the rain with never a stain The pavilion of Heaven is bare, And the winds and sunbeams with their convex gleams Build up the blue dome of air, I silently laugh at my own cenotaph, And out of the caverns of rain, Like a child from the womb, like a ghost from the tomb, I arise and unbuild it again. From 'The Cloud" by Percy Bysshe Shelly (Published 1820) The appeal of clouds to the Romantic minds of the late 18th and early 19th century is in perfect accord with their love of the changeable, the indefinite, the distant and the mysterious. Yet this 'Age of Reason' was compelled to study, analyze and probe for answers to these mysteries.
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  • Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt and the Cultural Legacy of John Constable
    Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt and the Cultural Legacy of John Constable On behalf of East Bergholt Parish Council November 2020 | Project Ref 641 Project Number: 641 Authored by: Claire Browne / Anne Johnson Approved by: Jonathan Edis Date: November 2020 Version: Version 4 Document version M:\LC\Projects\Projects\641 East Bergholt\Reports\V4 Historic Landscape Study of East Bergholt | 2 Executive Summary A historic landscape study of East Bergholt • Most importantly, this study assesses has been undertaken to inform the the landscape sensitivity of key Neighbourhood Plan. The study considers areas around East Bergholt, from a the archaeological dimension of the heritage and cultural point of view. village that stretches back into prehistory, It warns of threats of potential the time depth of the landscape around damage by inappropriate large scale the village documented in Constable’s development, despite Conservation paintings and the modern heritage and Area and AONB status. landscape context of the village. The study has identified the following areas A unique approach and methodology has of archaeological and landscape sensitivity: been used in this study to determine landscape value. It considers the • The former heathland north of the significance of East Bergholt to Constable’s village has archaeological potential. legacy as well as the presence of archaeological and heritage assets. • The historic landscape pattern is still The key findings of the report are as evident north of the village and is follows: highly susceptible to visual impacts. • East Bergholt is a very special English village as the birthplace of the • The former East Bergholt Common / internationally renowned painter John Heath at the centre of the village is Constable, and was his inspiration sensitive to encroachment and erosion throughout his life.
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  • English Painter John Constable's Renowned Six-Foot Landscapes Are Reunited with Groundbreaking Sketches for the First Time Since Artist's Death
    Office of Press and Public Information Fourth Street and Constitution Av enue NW Washington, DC Phone: 202-842-6353 Fax: 202-789-3044 www.nga.gov/press Release Date: August 3, 2006 English Painter John Constable's Renowned Six-Foot Landscapes are Reunited with Groundbreaking Sketches for the First Time Since Artist's Death John Constable (1776 - 1837) The White Horse (Full-size Sketch), c. 1818 oil on canvas National Gallery of Art, Washington, Widener Collection Washington, DC— John Constable's (1776–1837) seminal six-foot landscapes— among the best-known and beloved images in British art—are reunited with their groundbreaking full-size sketches for the first time since the artist's death in Constable's Great Landscapes: The Six-Foot Paintings, at the National Gallery of Art, East Building, October 1 through December 31, 2006. Fifty-five works include oils and drawings that are related to the large landscapes, an early pencil portrait, and a series in varied media brought together for the first time, illustrating areas along the Stour River in Suffolk known to many as "Constable Country." The exhibition and its companion catalogue examine why Constable produced the six-foot sketches. Eight finished six-foot paintings, including The White Horse (1819), Stratford Mill (1820), The Hay Wain (1821), View in the Stour near Dedham (1822), The Lock (1824), The Leaping Horse (1825), Hadleigh Castle (1829), and Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831) are paired with their corresponding full-size oil sketches, while Chain Pier, Brighton (1827) is presented with related smaller oil sketches. Two large finished versions of The Opening of the Waterloo Bridge (c.
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  • Archaeological Evaluation
    HISTORIC STRUCTURE RECORD THE DRY DOCK, BRIDGE COTTAGE, FLATFORD EAST BERGHOLT (HER Ref. EBG 010) DETAILS OF 1:20 SCALE SURVEY AND DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHIC RECORD M. Sommers ©Jan 2008 Suffolk County Council Archaeological Service Field Projects Team Lucy Robinson, County Director of Environment and Transport Endeavour House, Russel Road, Ipswich. IP1 2BX. SCCAS REPORT No. 2008/043 Contents Summary 1 1. Introduction 2 2. Methodology 3 3. Results 3 Description 3 The 1:20 and 1:10 Scale Plans 4 Digital Photographic Survey 6 List of Figures Figure 1: Location Plan 1 Figure 2: Dock Area as Surveyed by Ordnance Survey in 1900 and 2007 2 Figure 3: Plan of Dry Dock 4 Figure 4: Elevation and Plan of Barge Suport Trestle 1 4 Figure 5: Elevation and Plan of Barge Suport Trestle 2 5 Figure 6: Elevation and Plan of Barge Suport Trestle 3 5 Figure 7: Location and Direction of Camera 6 Plates Plates 1 to 44: Digital Photographs of Flatford Dry Dock The Dry Dock, Flatford (HER ref. EBG 010) Report No. 2008/043 Summary: The Dry Dock at Bridge Cottage, Flatford (in the parish of East Bergholt), was recorded through the creation of a 1:20 scale plan of the dock itself and 1:10 scale plans of the three barge supports within the dock. A digital photographic survey also was undertaken. The Dock is believed to have been constructed in the 18th century and formed part of a boatyard where barges were built and repaired. It is thought to be the dock featured in John Constable’s 1814 painting ‘Boatbuilding near Flatford Mill’.
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