Biography of John Constable

John Constable is one of the most crucial English artists of the past 500 years and he played a key role in the progression of art from the middle ages, through Renaissance into the contemporary art movements that we enjoy today. JMW Turner and fellow artist John Constable shaped the renaissance traditional art styles into a more expressive, creative art movement which inspired the rise of impressionist art and also other famous European artists.

John Constable helped to bring about the public's love for landscape art, alongside other artists from the UK and Europe. Before that point portrait and religious paintings were frequent but eventually art fans grew to respect paintings of British landscapes and this spread to all the corners of the globe.

Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Gustave Caillebotte and other well known French impressionist artists highlighted the importance of landscape paintings in the 19th and 20th century, but it was earlier artists such as Constable and Turner, classified as Romanticists, who started it's rise.

Constable's most impressive paintings were Dedham Vale and The Hay Wain of 1821. His overall career can be summarised into around 70 best works.

Constable is best remembered for contributing to landscape painting, but he sometimes had to return to more traditional styles in order to achieve commissions which paid his daily bills. This particular struggle is common in painting and art in general as artists struggle for recognition and have to sacrifice some of their passion for the simple realities of life.

A quick list of his best works would probably include Boat-building near Flatford Mill, The Leaping Horse, The Cornfield and The Hay Wain. The Hay Wain, Wivenhoe Park, Salisbury Cathedral.

It is certainly clear that John Constable's paintings left a great legacy and is an important subject for study of British art. It also shows the rise of modern contemporary art across Europe.

John Constable and William Turner will always be revered for delivering oil paintings which helped to develop art movements and it is fair to say that they still inspire modern artists today. The oil paintings by these great artists are stored in British and American museums and galleries.

Constable paintings are for sale from the Oil Painting Shop, who offer handmade reproductions of works by JMW Turner, John Constable and many other famous British artists.

You can also learn more on John Constable in this art blog.