Born 1776, Constable is ranked as one of the greatest British landscape artists. He is best known for scenes of his native Suffolk, and unlike many of his contemporaries (including J M W Turner), he never went abroad. His profound love of the English countryside is reflected in all his most famous works. Constable was inspired by the Dutch 17th-century landscape tradition, however, he rejected the formulaic style and convention of 18th-century landscape painting and went on to develop his own original approach, aiming to depict natural phenomena for a more realistic effect. This made Constable one of the innovators of his era. “No two days are alike”, he said, “nor even two hours, neither were there ever two leaves of a tree alike since the creation of the world”. He worked extensively in the open air, producing sketches which he then finished in his studio. However, it was not until the 1820s that he began to win recognition: ‘The Haywain’ won a gold medal at the Paris Salon of 1824 and he was elected a Royal Academician in 1829. Constable died in 1837 and his work went on to influence the Impressionists.
