John Constable

John Constable (1776–1837) was born in East Bergholt, a village on the River Stour in Suffolk, the son of a wealthy corn merchant who owned Flatford Mill. He worked in the family business until 1799, when his father allowed him to enter the Royal Academy Schools; there he came under the guidance of Joseph Farington and studied Claude, Gainsborough, Rubens and Ruisdael. He changed landscape painting with his pictures of Dedham Vale and the country around his home, scenes of ordinary rural life that were unfashionable at the time. His full-size oil sketches, with their free and vigorous brushwork, were revolutionary. Recognition in England came slowly: he was never financially successful and was elected to the Royal Academy only at fifty-two. France responded sooner. The Hay Wain, shown at the Academy in 1821, deeply impressed Géricault, Delacroix repainted the background of his Massacre at Chios after seeing Constable's pictures, and his work went on to inspire the Barbizon school. Here: The Hay Wain, his most famous painting, which shows Willy Lott's Cottage near Flatford Mill.