John Constable Tour (Kan 2024)
John Constable, (født 11. juni 1776, East Bergholt, Suffolk, England - døde 31. marts 1837, London), hovedfigur i engelsk landskabsmaleri i det tidlige 19. århundrede. Han er bedst kendt for sine malerier af det engelske landskab, især dem, der repræsenterer hans oprindelige dal af floden Stour, et område, der blev kendt som ”Konstabel land.”
Beginnings
Sønnen til en velhavende møller og købmand, der ejede et betydeligt hus og en lille gård, blev Constable opdrættet i en lille landsby i Suffolk. Omgivelserne i hans barndom og hans forståelse af landdistrikternes økonomi ville senere komme til udtryk i hans arbejde. Som han skrev i 1821: ”Jeg skulle male mine egne steder bedst
Jeg forbinder mit 'uforsigtige drengedom' med alt det, der ligger på bredden af turen. ”
Konstabel var beregnet til at gå ind i sin fars forretning, men efter at have mødt den berømte kenderen Sir George Beaumont i 1795 og derefter en cirkel af antikvarianere og kendere i Edmonton i 1796 blev han inspireret til at forfølge kunst. I februar 1799 gjorde han sig opmærksom på den indflydelsesrige akademiker Joseph Farington, og i marts gik han ind i de prestigefyldte Royal Academy-skoler med sin fares gnemmende godkendelse. På det tidspunkt understregede kunsthøjskoler historiemaleri som det mest passende emne for deres studerende, men fra starten viste Konstabel en særlig interesse for landskab.
I 1802 nægtede Constable stabiliteten af en stilling som tegnemester på et militærakademi, så han i stedet kunne dedikere sig til landskabsmaleri og til at studere naturen direkte på det engelske landskab. Samme år udstillede han sit arbejde på Royal Academy for første gang. På trods af nogle tidlige udforskninger i olie foretrækkede han i den første del af dette årti at bruge akvarel og grafiske medier i sine naturstudier. Han producerede fine undersøgelser i disse medier under en tur til det berømte maleriske sødistrikt i efteråret 1806, men hans udstillinger af disse værker i både 1807 og 1808 lykkedes ikke med at tiltrække offentlig opmærksomhed.
Tidlig modenhed
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.
