Constable: a Portrait by James Hamilton – a warm-hearted biography
This illuminating book suggests that we have got the English painter all wrong

John Constable, the 19th century landscape artist, has a somewhat fusty reputation, said Laura Freeman in The Times. His work is viewed as quaintly old-fashioned, while the phrase “Constable country” – originally a reference to the Suffolk countryside he painted – has become a catch-all for a “biscuit tin” version of England with “tidily herded” sheep and “neatly stacked” corn. Yet in this illuminating and insightful biography, James Hamilton suggests that we have got Constable all wrong.
The painter, he says, was really “a radical” who defied the expectations of his time by painting landscapes rather than portraits. Moreover, he pioneered many of the techniques – broken colour, modern subjects, an obsessive focus on the play of light – that would become bedrocks of impressionism. Constable, Hamilton writes, possessed an “experimental burn” to paint the skies and seasons as no one had before. He was, in short, an “overlooked revolutionary”.
While that may be an apt description of Constable the painter, it certainly isn’t true of Constable the man, said John Carey in The Sunday Times. A bigoted Tory with insular views, he staunchly refused to go abroad, even when his work was lionised in Paris. He was also “sarcastic, gossipy, tight with money and abusive of other artists’ work”. The paintings of J.M.W. Turner, his main contemporary rival, were, he said, “only fit to be spat upon”. He once compared a William Collins landscape to a “large cow turd”.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Constable was, at least, a devoted family man, said Michael Bird in The Daily Telegraph. He “adored” his wife Maria, and her death from tuberculosis aged 41, eleven months after giving birth to their seventh child, left him genuinely distraught.
Largely because of the “brazen experimentation” of his work, England was slow to appreciate Constable’s greatness, said Ysenda Maxtone Graham in the Daily Mail. For years, he was “obliged to take on portrait commissions to feed his family”, and he was only elected to the Royal Academy aged 43 (Turner was admitted in his mid-20s). Yet he did, as Hamilton aptly observes, become a “legend in his own landscape”.
In 1832, aged 56, Constable was crossing the river valley at Dedham, in Suffolk, when he praised the landscape to a fellow traveller. “Yes, sir,” the traveller replied. “This is Constable’s country.” The painter replied – “I am John Constable” – which must have been deeply “gratifying”. More than anything, as this delightful and warm-hearted biography shows, he yearned to be “appreciated”.
W & N 472pp £25; The Week Bookshop £19.99
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
The Week Bookshop
To order this title or any other book in print, visit theweekbookshop.co.uk, or speak to a bookseller on 020-3176 3835. Opening times: Monday to Saturday 9am-5.30pm and Sunday 10am-4pm.
-
October 4 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include the Einstein files, defunding the police, and an odd tribute to Jane Goodall
-
Mustardy beans and hazelnuts recipe
The Week Recommends Nod to French classic offers zingy, fresh taste
-
Under siege: Argentina’s president drops his chainsaw
Talking Point The self-proclaimed ‘first anarcho-capitalist president in world history’ faces mounting troubles
-
Mustardy beans and hazelnuts recipe
The Week Recommends Nod to French classic offers zingy, fresh taste
-
Susie Dent picks her favourite books
The Week Recommends The lexicographer and etymologist shares works by Jane Goodall, Noel Streatfeild and Madeleine Pelling
-
6 incredible homes under $1 million
Feature Featuring a home in the National Historic Landmark District of Virginia and a renovated mid-century modern house in Washington
-
The Harder They Come: ‘triumphant’ adaptation of cinema classic
The Week Recommends ‘Uniformly excellent’ cast follow an aspiring musician facing the ‘corruption’ of Kingston, Jamaica
-
House of Guinness: ‘rip-roaring’ Dublin brewing dynasty period drama
The Week Recommends The Irish series mixes the family tangles of ‘Downton’ and ‘Succession’ for a ‘dark’ and ‘quaffable’ watch
-
Dead of Winter: a ‘kick-ass’ hostage thriller
The Week Recommends Emma Thompson plays against type in suspenseful Minnesota-set hair-raiser ‘ringing with gunshots’
-
A Booker shortlist for grown-ups?
Talking Point Dominated by middle-aged authors, this year’s list is a return to ‘good old-fashioned literary fiction’
-
Fractured France: an ‘informative and funny’ enquiry
The Week Recommends Andrew Hussey's work is a blend of ‘memoir, travelogue and personal confession’