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John Constable, (rođen 11. lipnja 1776, East Bergholt, Suffolk, Engleska - umro 31. ožujka 1837, London), glavni lik engleskog pejzažnog slikarstva početkom 19. stoljeća. Najpoznatiji je po slikama s engleskog krajolika, posebno onima koje predstavljaju njegovu rodnu dolinu rijeke Stour, područje koje je postalo poznato kao "Constable zemlja."
počeci
Sin bogatog mlera i trgovca koji je posjedovao značajnu kuću i malo poljoprivredno gospodarstvo, Constable bio je odrastao u malom mjestu Suffolk. Okolina njegovog djetinjstva i njegovo razumijevanje ruralnog gospodarstva kasnije će se istaknuti u njegovom radu. Kao što bi napisao 1821. godine, „najbolje bih naslikao svoja mjesta
Svoje 'nemarno djetinjstvo' povezujem sa svime što leži na obalama Stura. '
Constable je trebao započeti posao svog oca, ali, nakon što je 1795. godine upoznao poznatog poznavatelja sir Georgea Beaumonta, a potom i krug antikvarijana i poznavalaca u Edmontonu, nadahnuo se za bavljenje umjetnošću. U veljači 1799. predstavio se utjecajnom akademiku Josephu Faringtonu, a u ožujku je, s grubim odobrenjem svog oca, ušao u prestižne škole Kraljevske akademije. U to su vrijeme umjetničke akademije isticale slikarstvo povijesti kao najprikladniji predmet za svoje studente, ali od početka je Constable pokazivao poseban interes za krajolik.
1802. Constable je odbio stabilnost posta kao majstora crtanja na vojnoj akademiji, tako da se mogao umjesto toga posvetiti pejzažnom slikarstvu i izučavanju prirode izravno na engleskom selu. Iste je godine prvi put izložio svoj rad na Kraljevskoj akademiji. Unatoč nekim ranim istraživanjima nafte, u prvom dijelu ovog desetljeća radije je koristio akvarel i grafičke medije u svojim studijama prirode. Izradio je izvrsne studije u tim medijima tijekom putovanja u čuveno slikoviti jezerski kraj u jesen 1806. godine, ali njegove izložbe tih djela i 1807. i 1808. nisu uspjele privući javnu pažnju.
Rana zrelost
Although based in London during this period, Constable would frequently make extended visits to his native East Bergholt to sketch. (On one such stay in 1809, he fell in love with Maria Bicknell, who was visiting her grandfather, the rector there.) Constable had been regularly sketching in oil since 1808, and by 1810 he had achieved extraordinary deftness with the medium (he would often be associated with his oil sketches in the future). His art became far more focused about this time: his sketches were either discrete studies, or, befitting academic practice, they were made in preparation for preconceived easel paintings. The most significant large easel painting of the period was Dedham Vale: Morning (1811), which married closely observed naturalistic effect to a scene composed according to the academic criteria established by 17th-century French painter Claude Lorrain.
In September 1811 Constable stayed in Salisbury with an old family friend, the Bishop of Salisbury, and grew close to the bishop’s nephew, John Fisher. Their correspondence is a hugely informative source on Constable’s art: he explains his aims and aspirations, reacts candidly and sometimes aggressively to contemporary criticism, and reveals himself to be driven, ambitious, and prey to gnawing self-doubt.
During this period, Bicknell’s family was pressuring her to end her relationship with the struggling artist, and her courtship with him had to become effectively clandestine. Constable found relief from this distraction by working in East Bergholt and, by 1814, with Boatbuilding and The Stour Valley and Dedham Village, he was painting easel pictures in the open. In his works from this period, such as Flatford Mill (1816), Constable displayed remarkable precision of touch and accuracy in description, comparable to contemporary landscapes by George Robert Lewis and John Linnell. His iconography was traditional and celebrated the continuum and stability of English country life. Constable achieved a bittersweet stability of his own when, upon his father’s death in 1816, he received an inheritance that allowed him the financial independence to marry Maria.
