Constable’s metal paint box c.1837 Estate of Sir Edwin A. G. Manton more on Constable's     studio materials

This room features a display including Constable's studio materials, as well as interactive screens that explore how Constable worked. Conservation techniques and analysis can reveal surprising aspects of an artist’s working methods. Such examination suggests that Constable’s approach was both systematic and spontaneous.

Although the landscapes he made outdoors are generally quite accurate records of a given scene, those he made in the studio are artfully composed, with plenty of room for imaginative reworking.

One activity in this room focuses on a recent x-ray examination; the other reveals Constable’s process of ‘squaring-up’. Explore these interactives and come to your own conclusions about the evidence uncovered.

View of 'Squaring-up' activity © Tate 2006

View of X-ray activity © Tate 2006 X-ray Activity: This interactive screen explores a recent x-ray examination of the large oil sketch for this picture, revealing significant changes and showing evidence of how the artist reworked the composition on the canvas. 'Squaring-up' Activity: This interactive screen charts the various stages in ‘squaring-up’, in this case a process that begins with a small pencil sketch and ends up as a six foot oil painting.

See Constable's techniques to explore how conservation techniques and analysis revealed Constable's working methods.

View of Room 9 of this exhibition © Tate 2006

View of Room 9 of this exhibition © Tate 2006

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