John Constable (1776-1837) Oil Painting for Auction
Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood are delighted to announce that they will be offering
an oil painting by John Constable (1776-1837) with impeccable provenance in their
Autumn 2015 Fine Art Auction.
To be included in the Fine Picture Sale on 6th October 2015: John Constable RA (1776-1837)
- Ponies and donkey in a forest clearing, oil on canvas, 24cm x 36cm.
We are delighted to be offering this oil sketch by John Constable Forest clearing
with ponies and donkey in the
Picture Auction
as part of the
Autumn 2015 Fine Sale 6th October 2015.
The impeccable provenance, scholarly research and specialist authentication will
be made available on our website well in advance of the sale. For all future enquiries
about this painting, please refer to the
Picture Department.
John Constable
was known as the Sketcher; as a young boy he enjoyed sketching the countryside
of Essex and Suffolk saying in later life "these scenes of the countryside made
me the painter that I am".
John Constable was as the youngest son of Golding and Anne Constable was, by the
tradition of the time, destined to become a clergyman. However, due to the
ill health of his older brother he was put in charge of the family corn merchant
business, working closely with his father. On a business trip to London, Constable
met with a famous drawing master of the time, one John 'Antiquity' Smith (don't
ask!). It was Smith who persuaded Golding Constable that John "could and would become
one of the greatest painters of his time". Now, with his father's blessing, and
relieved of his family business duties, he embarked with relish on his career as
a painter.
In 1803, Contable met and fell in love with his future wife, Maria Bicknell.
Her parents thought him financially insecure and refused to give approval to their
courtship. They did however manage to meet in secret, in fact for over thirteen
years! It was not until John Constable inherited his father's estate, thus satisfying
Maria's parents of his financial security, that they were able to at last tie the
knot. They subsequently had seven children.
Although John Constable never went abroad he was, in the early years of his painting
career, more popular in France than in England. He was awarded the high accolade
Medal Charles X of France in 1824.
Throughout his life, John Constable was outshone by his contemporary JMW Turner.
This situation was given air in the recent film on Turner's life 'Mr Turner'. John
Constable's work was only fully appreciated after his death.
His most famous painting is The Hay Wain. It depicts a harvest wagon crossing
a shallow stream close to Flatford Mill and the hay wagon is in fact a timber wagon!
Constable did not sketch the scene 'on the spot', he constructed the scene from
his studio having asked a painting friend to send him a sketch of a hay wagon. His
friend mistakenly sent a sketch of a timber wagon - not many people know that! John
Cosntable's own favourite painting was Branch Hill Pond in Hampstead, now
hanging in the Cleveland Museum of Art.
- Bearnes Hampton & Littlewood
- Fine Art Auctions
- John Constable (1776-1837)
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