JOHN CONSTABLE (1776 - 1837)

John Constable was the first English landscape painter to ask no lessons from the Dutch.  His originality does not lie in the choice of subjects which frequently repeat themes beloved by other British landscape painters but in the sphere of technique and feeling. Constable was a product of Eastern England with its luxurious meadows, distant horizons, picturesque villages, and above all its everchanging sky with constantly moving cloud formations.
Although Constable's outlook on nature was primarily naturalistic, his individuality of style and interest in "sentiment" made him part of the Romantic period in which he lived.
He enjoyed clouds, sunshine, trees and fields for their own sakes, in addition to viewing them as potential vehicles of human emotions.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about Constable's technique was that he made quick sketches setting down his first spontaneous and emotional reactions to natural beauties; these visual impressions, even more than his finished works are regarded as his real contribution. To accomplish his aim of rendering the living, moving quality of nature he used broken touches of colour.
Constable was the first to introduce green into painting, the green of lush meadows, the green of summer foliage, all the green which, until then, painters had refused to see except through bluish, yellow or more often brown glasses. The sparkles of light and colour and the deliberate roughness of texture broke with the tradition of smooth painting.
Besides the intrinsic merit of Constable's work, it is also historically important for the effect it had on both the Romantic and the Impressionist groups.
(From the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1978)

WORDS AND WORD-COMBINATIONS

outlook – точка зору
a vehicle of human emotions – засіб передачі людських емоцій
to make sketches – робити ескізи
texture – відображення поверхні предметів у творах мистецтва
to break with the tradition (of) – порвати з традицією
intrinsic – справжній

EXERCISES

I. Choose the right answer:
1. What does John Constable's originality lie in?
a) an unusual choice of subjects;
b) the sphere of technique and feeling;
c) an original colour scheme.
2. What was Constable's contribution to English painting?.
a) portraits of distinguished ladies;
b) marine pieces;
c) rural landscape.
3. What colour did Constable introduce into painting?
a) blue;
b) green;
c) yellow.
4. Point out the most interesting feature of Constable's technique;
a) he painted at home relying on his imagination;
b) he painted out of doors;
c) he set down his first spontaneous reactions to natural beauties and then  worked at his pictures indoors.
5. On what group of painters did Constable make the greatest impact?
a) the Romantic school of painting;
b) the school of realism;
c) the Impressionists.

II. Explain what is meant by:
1. John Constable was the first English landscape painter to ask no lessons from the Dutch.
2. Constable was a product of Eastern England.
3. He enjoyed clouds, sunshine, trees and fields for their own sakes, in addition to viewing them as potential vehicles of human emotions.
4. These visual impressions, even more than his finished works are regarded as his real contribution.
5. To accomplish his aim of rendering the living, moving quality of nature he used broken touches of colour.
6. The sparkles of light and colour and the deliberate roughness of texture broke with the tradition of smooth painting.

III. Study the description of one of Constable's most famous pictures "Flatford Mill on the River Stour". Make use of it while describing "Hay Wain":
"Flatford Mill on the River Stour" painted in 1817, shows that even then he had developed a style that was conspicuous for its intimate naturalism. He had brought painting out of doors.
The scene is typically English. In the foreground you can see a horse with a boy on its back. In the distance is a lock and the building of the mill. To the right of the picture stretches a level expanse of pasture. The time is early summer, when the foliage is heaviest and the grass has not lost the freshness of spring.
(From "The National and the Tate Galleries" by R.N.D.Wilson)

IV. Suppose you are standing before a landscape which you find too topographic. If you really believe that the true charm of a landscape lies not in its details but in its spirit, critisize this picture. Make use of the following expressions:
in the foreground; in the background; too topographic; a true copy of local scenery; trivial and dull; to be full of painstaking details.