Tate Britain | Past Exhibitions

Timeline


1776	June: John Constable born in East Bergholt, Suffolk

1780		Royal Academy moves to Somerset House

1783		American independence recognised by Britain

1784		Ordnance Survey of England established

1785		The Times newspaper founded William Cowper The Task published

1788		George III’s madness announced

1789		French Revolution starts, fall of the Bastille Mutiny on the Bounty

1790		Edmund Burke Reflections on the Revolution in France published

1791		The Sunday newspaper The Observer first appears Thomas Paine Rights of Man Part I published

1792		Mary Wollstonecraft Vindication of the Rights of Woman published First Republic begins in France Louvre opens as public museum in Paris

1793		Execution of Louis XVI in France France declares war on Britain

1795		Methodist secession from Church of England

1796		Edward Jenner vaccinates against smallpox

1798		William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge Lyrical Ballads published

1799	Constable's father gives permission for him to train as a painter March: Constable enters the Royal Academy Schools as a probationer

1800	February: Constable enrols as a student at the Royal Academy Schools

1801		Political union with Ireland Joanna Southcott The Strange Effects of Faith published

1802	Constable exhibits at the Royal Academy for the first time	William Paley Natural Theology published Treaty of Amiens

1803		War with France resumes

1804		Napoleon becomes Emperor

1805		October: Nelson defeats the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar

1807		Act abolishing the slave trade passed

1810		October: George III suffers a renewed bout of illness

1811		February: The Prince of Wales is given virtually full powers as Regent, which are confirmed in 1812

1812		April: Height of the Luddite disturbances Lord Byron Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage published

1813		Jane Austen Pride and Prejudice published

1814	Constable exhibits The Ferry at the Royal Academy. This attracts criticism highlighting the difficulty Constable had in scaling up from a small sketch to a larger canvas.	Abdication of Napoleon Stephenson’s first locomotive built

1815		June: Defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo July: Machine breaking in Suffolk Widespread petitioning and riots in London against the Corn Laws

1816	October: Constable marries Maria Bicknell at St Martin in the Fields in London John Constable Wivenhoe Park, Essex 1816 Courtesy the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Widener Collection more on this image Constable finishes Wivenhoe Park, Essex, a commission from the owner of the house; Major-General Francis Slater-Rebow	April: Beginning of widespread riots against distress in East Anglia

1817	Constable exhibits 4 works at the Royal Academy, including Flatford Mill (Scene on a Navigable River) John Constable Flatford Mill (‘Scene on a Navigable River’) 1817 © Tate more on this image Constable & Maria's first child (John Charles) born. They have seven children in all.

1819	Constable exhibits The White Horse at the Royal Academy; his first six-foot canal scene John Constable The White Horse 1819 Courtesy The Frick Collection, New York more on this image	"Peterloo". A Reform meeting at St. Peter's Field in Manchester is broken up by troops. Despite a relatively low death toll, it is widely reported as a "massacre".

1820	Constable completes and exhibits Stratford Mill at the Royal Academy John Constable Stratford Mill 1820 Courtesy The National Gallery, London more on this image	Death of George III, accession of George IV William Blake completes Jerusalem John Clare Poems, Descriptions of Rural Life published

1821	Constable exhibits The Hay Wain at the Royal Academy John Constable The Hay Wain 1821 Courtesy The National Gallery, London more on this image

1822	Constable begins a connection with the French dealer John Arrowsmith, who is instrumental in exhibiting The Hay Wain in Paris

1824	Constable exhibits both The Hay Wain and A View on the Stour near Dedham at the Paris Salon to great acclaim. He is awarded a gold medal by the French government. John Constable View on the Stour near Dedham 1822 Lent by The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens more on this image	Founding of the National Gallery in London

1825	Constable exhibits The Leaping Horse at the Royal Academy, where it is well received John Constable The Leaping Horse 1825 Courtesy The Royal Academy of Arts, London more on this image

1827	Constable exhibits Chain Pier, Brighton at the Royal Academy John Constable Chain Pier, Brighton 1826-7 © Tate more on this image

1828	The Constables' last child, Lionel, is born November: Maria dies of pulmonary tuberculosis, aged forty-one

1829	February: Constable is elected a full Academician Constable engages David Lucas to produce a series of mezzotints after his work (commonly known as English Landscape) Constable exhibits Hadleigh Castle at the Royal Academy, despite misgivings about how it would be received John Constable Hadleigh Castle (full-size sketch) about 1828-9 © Tate more on this image	Catholic Emancipation Act

1830		Death of George IV, accession of William IV

1831	Constable exhibits Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows at the Royal Academy

1832	Constable completes and exhibits The Opening of Waterloo Bridge at the Royal Academy John Constable The Opening of Waterloo Bridge (‘Whitehall Stairs, June 18th, 1817’) 1832 © Tate more on this image	Great Reform Act passed, redistributing seats and extending franchise qualifications

1835	Constable is working on studies of Stoke-by-Nayland. He never produces an exhibition version. John Constable Stoke-by-Nayland (full-size sketch) about 1835-7 Courtesy the Art Institute of Chicago, Mr and Mrs W.W. Kimball Collection more on this image

1837	March: Constable dies, possibly of a heart attack	Death of William IV, accession of Queen Victoria