John Constable at Flatford

At the age of 23, John was considerably older than most art students – for example, his contemporary (and arch-rival) JMW Turner began his studies at the age of 13. At this time, the Royal Academy was based at Somerset House and provided training in drawing rather than the full range of artistic forms that we associate with it now. Major exhibitions were held every year, every bit as crammed with artworks as the Summer Exhibition today and both Turner and Constable exhibited work there most years in the hope of becoming better known, as there were so few public art galleries at this time. 

While studying at the Royal Academy, John realised that his destiny was to paint a ‘truth’ about life based on his own feelings and reactions to the natural world rather than following the strict, classical teachings of the Royal Academy. To capture his response to reality as honestly as possible, he chose to paint the part of the world he knew and loved best: the Stour Valley in Suffolk. 

Constable completes his first commission of the Old Hall in East Bergholt for its owner. 

Constable rents his first studio (for four-and-a-half old pennies a year), called Moss Cottage in East Bergholt, where he worked undisturbed with John Dunthorne (senior).  

Constable exhibits his first painting, called ‘Dedham Vale’, at the Royal Academy. 

Constable receives commission for an altarpiece at Brantham Church, a painting called ‘Christ Blessing the Children’ for which his brother, Golding, modelled for the face of Christ.  

John Constable first met his future wife, Maria Bicknell, while she was visiting her maternal grandfather, the wealthy and irascible Rev Dr Durrande Rhudde, rector in East Bergholt. 

The couple met again when Maria was in her early twenties and they fell deeply in love and assumed they would marry. However, Maria's grandfather had other ideas and managed to thwart their marriage plans.  He considered John Constable incapable of earning enough money to support a wife and he thoroughly disapproved of Constable’s friendship with John Dunthorne, whom he considered to be a dangerous atheist. Rev Dr Rhudde threatened to disinherit Maria if she married Constable. John had no regular income except the £100 a year he received from his father and so the couple were unable to marry. 

Constable paints ‘Boat-Building’ near Flatford Mill. 

John Constable's father dies and his younger brother Abram agrees to run the family business for the benefit of the whole family. The bulk of Golding Constable's estate was sold and John's inheritance meant he could afford to marry his sweetheart, Maria Bicknell. 

The death of John's father, Golding Constable, in 1816 revealed the unusual arrangements he had made to ensure all his children received financial support after his death. For John, his father’s death led to an income of £200 a year and he also benefited from the sale of his father’s properties. A legal agreement Golding had drawn up with his youngest son Abram meant that Abram would manage the family business for the benefit of his brothers and sisters. 

Constable exhibits the first of his six-footers at the Royal Academy – ‘The White horse’ – and sells it. He soon becomes an Associate Member of the Royal Academy. 

John Constable exhibits The Hay Wain at the Royal Academy, which remains unsold. 

Constable is awarded King Charles X Gold Medal for Art in Paris for The Hay Wain. 

Constable takes on John Dunthorne (junior) as his assistant in his London studio. 

Maria, Constable wife dies of tuberculosis a few months after the birth of her seventh child (Lionel Bicknell Constable). After Maria's death, John Constable was heartbroken, bereft of his muse and love of his life. He kept on working, painting in several places including London, Salisbury and Petworth. His work became more popular and started to sell, which was just as well as he had seven children to provide for and educate. 

Constable never regained the freshness and inspiration of his Suffolk landscapes after the death of his wife Maria. He was finally admitted as a full member of the Royal Academy, 26 years after his rival JMW Turner, and in the year Maria died. He was aged 52 – neither his wife nor parents had lived long enough to see this public recognition. 

Constable's best-known work from his later period is a six-footer called Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows, featuring an impressive rainbow over Salisbury Cathedral. He exhibited the painting in 1831, but continued to work on it during 1833 and 1834. Salisbury was an important place for John Constable. It was the home of Bishop John Fisher who had commissioned the Salisbury Cathedral painting. It was also the home of the bishop's nephew, Archdeacon John Fisher, Constable's trusted friend and confidante. 

Constable had been attending the funeral of his assistant Johnny Dunthorne in East Bergholt. In a letter to his engraver, David Lucas, dated 14 November 1832, Constable says: 

'In the coach yesterday coming from Suffolk, were two gentleman and myself all strangers to each other. In passing through the valley about Dedham, one of them remarked to me – on my saying it was beautiful – 'yes sir – this is Constable's Country!' I then told him who I was lest he should spoil it'. 

John Constable died on 31 March 1837, just two months short of turning 61. He was buried alongside his wife Maria, in St John’s Church, in Hampstead. His brothers, Golding and Abram led the mourners. John Charles, Constable's eldest son who had been with his father when he died, was too ill and upset to attend.

Golding Constable was an entrepreneur who inherited Flatford Mill and the flour-milling business in 1764 from his uncle Abram Constable (who died childless). He also operated Dedham Mill, owned the windmill at East Bergholt, as well as 93 acres of agricultural land in East Bergholt which he farmed. 

Golding's marriage to the daughter of a barrel maker, Ann Watts, in 1767 resulted in a substantial dowry and six children: Ann, Martha, Golding, John, Mary and Abram. Business success enabled him to build a mansion of three floors with stables and a courtyard and in 1774 to move his family into it. He called it East Bergholt House.  

When Golding Constable died (on 14 May 1816) aged 77, he had drawn up a legal agreement to protect his children which meant that all six of his children were given equal shares in his assets. 

The youngest son, Abram, took over the running of the family business on behalf of all six brothers and sisters and not just for himself – his work provided each of Golding’s children with an annual income of about £200. Golding Constable was buried alongside his wife in East Bergholt Churchyard. He did not live to see his son’s success and fame. 

Ann Watts was the daughter of a London barrel manufacturer and married Suffolk businessman, Golding Constable in 1767. She gave birth to six children, managed the Constable household and a large workforce working in the poultry yard, the domestic brewery and the dairy. 

Ann’s first three children (Ann, Martha and Golding) were born in the house at Flatford Mill. By the time John was born, the family had moved into East Bergholt House, the mansion that Ann’s husband had built extending over three floors with stables and a courtyard. John was Ann’s second son, fourth child and the first Constable to be born in East Bergholt House. 

It was Ann who encouraged John to become a painter, although she worried he would not make any money out of it. She suggested that painting portraits would be more lucrative than painting landscapes. Although his temperament was lacking in the interpersonal skills needed by a portraitist, Constable completed about 100 portraits. 

The eldest of Constable’s children, John was sickly throughout his childhood and died of scarlet fever at the age of 24.

Minna was nine when in 1828 her mother died. She immediately stepped into her mother’s shoes, teaching her younger brothers and sisters to read and write as well as occasionally collecting insects for her brother Charley. John Constable relied on Minna and loved her dearly.

In the spring of 1832, Minna, now aged 12, became seriously ill with a severe cold and sore throat and Constable feared for her life and that of his other children. To John Constable’s enormous relief Maria recovered. Maria remained at the centre of her father’s life and his family. She did not marry and died aged 65.

Charles was a rumbustious boy with good health and a short attention span. He was fascinated with insects and his only ambition was to go to sea. John Constable was horrified at the prospect of his son working on merchant ships but, rather like his own father before him, found himself paying to support his son’s ambition.

Charles-Golding (Charley) was the only child to marry and have children. When his father died, Charley argued with his sisters because they had kept some of his father’s seascapes which he felt were meant for him. He also denounced a number of genuine Constables as fakes.

Little is known about Isabel except that along with her sisters, she attended Miss Sophia Noble’s school in Hampstead and learnt handwriting, piano, dancing and comportment.

In 1888 she gave or bequeathed to the South Kensington Museum in her own name and on behalf of her sister Maria Louisa and brother Lionel Bicknell, 95 Constable oil paintings and sketches, 297 drawings and watercolours and three sketchbooks. The same year, Isabel Constable also made smaller gifts of her father’s work to the British Museum, the Royal Academy and the National Gallery.

Emily was born prematurely and shared her birthday with her brother Charles Golding (Charley). She caught scarlet fever in 1839 and died aged 14 – at this time, scarlet fever killed more children in Britain than any other disease.

As a toddler, Alfie played under John Constable’s easel, creating mischief. He was interested in drawing and at the age of 16 spent his summer with Mary, Constable’s favourite sister who lived in East Bergholt, where he enjoyed a summer of fishing and sketching below Fen Bridge.

Alfie considered going to sea, but instead decided to study art and enrolled at the Sass Academy, an elite institution which prepared (male) students for The Royal Academy and was located at 6 Charlotte Street, opposite the British Museum. Some of Alfie's landscapes were later exhibited at the Royal Academy.

Alfie died in 1853 in a boating accident at the age of 27 (which his younger brother Lionel survived) on the River Thames.

Lionel was born in the year his mother Maria died and life was difficult from the start. Having no memory of his mother, his attachments were to his father, his sister Maria Louisa and his nanny Mrs Elizabeth Roberts.

He was educated at home by the family tutor, Charles Boner, before attending a Mrs Rawley's Dame School. Lionel was the most artistically talented of all the Constable children and exhibited his work four times at the Royal Academy. Occasionally his work was mistaken for that of his father.

Lionel gave up painting after he and his brother Alfie were involved in a boating accident on the River Thames. For the rest of his life Lionel concentrated on carpentry, photography, sailing and making fireworks. He died in 1853, aged 50.