Martin Gayford

His final paintings are like Jackson Pollocks: RA’s Late Constable reviewed

The British have always got Constable wrong. They’ve admired him as an exponent of English cosiness and failed to appreciate his painterly brilliance

A flickering vortex, reminiscent of Jackson Pollock: ‘A Farmhouse Near the Water’s Edge (“On the Stour”)’ c.1834–6, by John Constable. Credit: Photo © The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC 
issue 27 November 2021
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  • Late Constable

    Royal Academy, until 13 February 2022

On 13 July 1815, John Constable wrote to his fiancée, Maria Bicknell, about this and that. Interspersed with a discussion of the fine weather and the lack of village gossip, he added a disclaimer on the subject posterity would most like to hear about: his art. ‘You know that I do not like to talk of what I am about in painting (I am such a conjuror).’

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