John Constable
I chose Constable (1776 - 1837) because he is part of the English national heritage. You can’t read a period novel without mention of Constable. He was deeply committed to the English landscape, saying, “I should paint my own laces best.”
Instead of looking for grand Roman or Biblical themes, he focused on the homeliness of the Stour Valley in Suffolk where he was born. Constable’s emotionalism is Romantic, although an echt-Romantic would have focused on ruins instead of millponds. It may also be noted that there was another area where he did not go–biographer John Walker says, “Constable’s incapacity as a religious painter cannot be overstated.”
He was an extraverted homebody and it shows in his paintings.
Constable’s father was a farmer and miller, who reluctantly allowed him to enter the Royal Academy Schools at 22. He was drawn to cloud and landscape painting, but supported himself by doing portraits of local dignitaries. Constable’s recognition was slow in coming. After a prudent courtship, he married in 1816, and that era sparked new vivacity and emotional depth in his work. Shortly afterwards, he became an Associate of the Royal Academy. After his wife died in 1828, Constable raised his seven children alone (says Wikipedia, most likely failing to mention a few nursemaids and housekeepers and suchlike).
The Romantic Movement was a response to the rational neo-Classical & Enlightenment movements. Instead of emphasizing tradition and order, Romantics romanticized the individual.
Constable wrote, “"The world is wide, no two days are alike, nor even two hours; neither were there ever two leaves of a tree alike since the creation of all the world; and the genuine productions of art, like those of nature, are all distinct from each other."
Because of this belief, he made preliminary oil paintings en plein air. Paints in tubes weren’t invented until the 1870’s, so how he managed this is a bit awe-inspiring. These vigorous paintings changed the course of art and are still studied.
Constable studied meteorology as well as the sky itself, saying that the sky is “the key note, the standard of scale, and the chief organ of sentiment” of a painting
All of his landscape paintings are conspicuous for their emotional skyscapes, including several of the Salisbury Cathedral.
While Constable’s reluctantly painted portraits have been called minor, and “ludicrously inept and ... utterly nondescript,” the later ones seem expressive and natural to me. I’d be proud to paint like that.
Instead of looking for grand Roman or Biblical themes, he focused on the homeliness of the Stour Valley in Suffolk where he was born. Constable’s emotionalism is Romantic, although an echt-Romantic would have focused on ruins instead of millponds. It may also be noted that there was another area where he did not go–biographer John Walker says, “Constable’s incapacity as a religious painter cannot be overstated.”
He was an extraverted homebody and it shows in his paintings.
Constable’s father was a farmer and miller, who reluctantly allowed him to enter the Royal Academy Schools at 22. He was drawn to cloud and landscape painting, but supported himself by doing portraits of local dignitaries. Constable’s recognition was slow in coming. After a prudent courtship, he married in 1816, and that era sparked new vivacity and emotional depth in his work. Shortly afterwards, he became an Associate of the Royal Academy. After his wife died in 1828, Constable raised his seven children alone (says Wikipedia, most likely failing to mention a few nursemaids and housekeepers and suchlike).
The Romantic Movement was a response to the rational neo-Classical & Enlightenment movements. Instead of emphasizing tradition and order, Romantics romanticized the individual.
Constable wrote, “"The world is wide, no two days are alike, nor even two hours; neither were there ever two leaves of a tree alike since the creation of all the world; and the genuine productions of art, like those of nature, are all distinct from each other."
Because of this belief, he made preliminary oil paintings en plein air. Paints in tubes weren’t invented until the 1870’s, so how he managed this is a bit awe-inspiring. These vigorous paintings changed the course of art and are still studied.
Constable studied meteorology as well as the sky itself, saying that the sky is “the key note, the standard of scale, and the chief organ of sentiment” of a painting
All of his landscape paintings are conspicuous for their emotional skyscapes, including several of the Salisbury Cathedral.
While Constable’s reluctantly painted portraits have been called minor, and “ludicrously inept and ... utterly nondescript,” the later ones seem expressive and natural to me. I’d be proud to paint like that.
Deadham Church and Vale
Constable was a landscape artist. This peaceful scene is, in my opinion, a lovely example of his cloudscapes and quintessentially English countryside.
The limited palette of greens and greys draws the mind to calm. No harsh reds in this painting! Constable's clouds, while somewhat stylized (as are the trees), convey dampness, the eerie light almost has a fragrance. I can hear the crackle of dry summer vegetation, smell the cows' breaths, feel the pleasant boredom of the shepherd. It's a masterpiece of serenity.
The limited palette of greens and greys draws the mind to calm. No harsh reds in this painting! Constable's clouds, while somewhat stylized (as are the trees), convey dampness, the eerie light almost has a fragrance. I can hear the crackle of dry summer vegetation, smell the cows' breaths, feel the pleasant boredom of the shepherd. It's a masterpiece of serenity.
Constable Lesson: Cloudscapes (continued from Turner page)
Lesson Title: Constable and Clouds
Grade: K - 9 self-contained classroom
Key Vocabulary: Wash, glaze, lost edges, found edges.
Visuals/Resources: Youtube and Youtube.
Connections to Prior Knowledge: Recall the Turner watercolor lesson.
Content Objectives: 1. Understand how to make lost and found edges with watercolors and water.
2. make several cloudscapes using at least three different colors
3. create a finished watercolor cloudscape.
Meaningful Activities: 1. Look up, out the skylight. What's the sky doing? What colors do you see? Are there hard or soft edges? Demonstration of watercolor wash. Demonstration of lost edges, found edges.
2. 15-minute stations: Make washes (see Turner lesson) Use several different techniques to create a cloudscape, working from exemplars.
3. 30-minute masterwork session: paint a cloudscape using at least 3 colors and lost or found edges.
Supplies: Teacher-made exemplars.
Review/Assessment: Art journal
Language Objective: Use appropriate vocabulary when sharing journal.
Grade: K - 9 self-contained classroom
Key Vocabulary: Wash, glaze, lost edges, found edges.
Visuals/Resources: Youtube and Youtube.
Connections to Prior Knowledge: Recall the Turner watercolor lesson.
Content Objectives: 1. Understand how to make lost and found edges with watercolors and water.
2. make several cloudscapes using at least three different colors
3. create a finished watercolor cloudscape.
Meaningful Activities: 1. Look up, out the skylight. What's the sky doing? What colors do you see? Are there hard or soft edges? Demonstration of watercolor wash. Demonstration of lost edges, found edges.
2. 15-minute stations: Make washes (see Turner lesson) Use several different techniques to create a cloudscape, working from exemplars.
3. 30-minute masterwork session: paint a cloudscape using at least 3 colors and lost or found edges.
Supplies: Teacher-made exemplars.
Review/Assessment: Art journal
Language Objective: Use appropriate vocabulary when sharing journal.
Constable Lesson: Trees
Lesson Title: Constable and Trees
Grade: K - 9 self-contained classroom
Key Vocabulary: Hue (color), value (B&W intensity), shade (add black), tint (add white).
Visuals/Resources: Youtube and Youtube.
Connections to Prior Knowledge: What do trees look like?
Content Objectives: 1. Understand how light and dark values work on a tree.
2. paint several trees using at least three different values
3. create a finished watercolor tree.
Meaningful Activities: 1. Look out the window. What trees do you see? What colors do you see? What values? Where are the light/the dark values? How do the trunks shape the foliage?
2. 15-minute stations: Draw trees from exemplars, magazine photos, out the window.
3. 30-minute masterwork session: paint a tree using at least 3 colors and values.
Supplies: Teacher-made exemplars.
Review/Assessment: Art journal
Language Objective: Use appropriate vocabulary when sharing journal.
Grade: K - 9 self-contained classroom
Key Vocabulary: Hue (color), value (B&W intensity), shade (add black), tint (add white).
Visuals/Resources: Youtube and Youtube.
Connections to Prior Knowledge: What do trees look like?
Content Objectives: 1. Understand how light and dark values work on a tree.
2. paint several trees using at least three different values
3. create a finished watercolor tree.
Meaningful Activities: 1. Look out the window. What trees do you see? What colors do you see? What values? Where are the light/the dark values? How do the trunks shape the foliage?
2. 15-minute stations: Draw trees from exemplars, magazine photos, out the window.
3. 30-minute masterwork session: paint a tree using at least 3 colors and values.
Supplies: Teacher-made exemplars.
Review/Assessment: Art journal
Language Objective: Use appropriate vocabulary when sharing journal.