Skip navigation
Tate Logo
Shop
Become a Member

Main menu

  • Art and artists
    • Our collection
      Artists
      Artworks
      Art by theme
      Explore
      Videos
      Podcasts
      Short articles
      In depth
      Art Terms
      Tate Research
      Student resources
      Make art
      Create like an artist
      Kids art activities
      Tate Draw game
  • What's on
  • Plan your visit

Main menu additional

  • Shop
  • Become a Member
Expand
  • Art and Artists
  • Artworks
  • Maria Bicknell

John Constable

Maria Bicknell

c.1805–9

Image released under Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported)

License this image

In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Artist
John Constable 1776–1837
Medium
Graphite on paper
Dimensions
Support: 488 × 348 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Purchased 1984
Reference
T03900
  • Summary
  • Display caption
  • Catalogue entry

Summary

Maria Elizabeth Bicknell (1788-1828) was a daughter of Charles Bicknell, Solicitor to the Admiralty, and his second wife, Maria Elizabeth Rhudde. Maria Rhudde's father, the Revd Dr Rhudde, was rector of East Bergholt with Great Wenham, and also of Brantham, Suffolk, as well as a chaplain in ordinary to George III. According to Constable's biographer C.R. Leslie, the artist first met his future wife in 1800 when she was staying with her grandfather Dr Rhudde at East Bergholt rectory (Leslie, ed. J. Mayne, Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, London 1951, p.25). Judging by Maria's apparent age (surely no more than twenty-one), this drawing was made no later than 1809 and quite possibly a few years before that. By 1809 a close attachment existed, at least on Constable's side; however, their marriage was delayed until 1816, largely because Maria's family, and especially Dr Rhudde, disapproved of their association. In February 1816 Constable wrote to Maria,

How unfortunate that I should have [been the] cause of bringing all into [the] situation I did with the wretched Doctor - but let us for ever dismiss the grievous side of the subject ... I am happy in love - an affection exceeding a thousand times my deserts, which has continued so many years, and is yet undiminished ... Never will I marry in this world if I marry not you. Truly can I say that for the seven years since I avowed my love for you, I have never done any thing that I have considered could have made you any way uncomfortable ...

(R.B. Beckett, ed., John Constable's Correspondence, II, Ipswich 1964, p.179)

The couple were finally married on 2 October 1816 at St Martin-in-the-Fields in London. The Constables eventually had seven children. Maria, who suffered from poor health, died of tuberculosis in 1828. In a letter to his brother Golding of 19 December 1828, Constable wrote, 'I shall never feel again as I have felt, the face of the World is totally changed to me' (Leslie, ed. A. Shirley, Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, R.A., London 1937, p.234).

Also in the Tate Gallery is an oil portrait of Maria (Tate Gallery N02655) made shortly after the couple had decided to marry. The Tate also owns the oil portrait Maria Constable with Two of her Children (c.1820, Tate Gallery T03903). An unfinished oil painting of Maria with three of her children is still in the Constable family collection, as is a drawing thought to show her in the last years of her life.

Further reading:
Leslie Parris, The Tate Gallery Constable Collection, London 1981, pp.69-70
The Tate Gallery 1984-86: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions, London 1988, p.18, reproduced
Leslie Parris and Ian Fleming-Williams, Constable, exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1991, reproduced p.21

Terry Riggs
February 1998

Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.

Read more

Display caption

This is a portrait of Constable’s future wife, Maria Bicknell. He first met her when she was staying with her grandfather, the Reverend Dr Rhudde, at East Bergholt rectory.

In February 1816, a few months before they were to marry, Constable wrote in a letter to Maria that it had been seven years since he had first declared his love for her. This drawing may have been made around that time, in 1809, when Maria was about twenty-one. However, it may have been drawn a few years earlier.

Gallery label, September 2004

Does this text contain inaccurate information or language that you feel we should improve or change? We would like to hear from you.

Read more

Catalogue entry

John Constable 1776-1837

T03900 Maria Bicknell c.1805-9

Pencil on cream wove paper 488 x 348 (19 3/16 x 13 11/16)
Inscribed in a later hand 'Mrs. J.C' b.r.
Purchased (Grant-in-Aid) 1984
Prov: As for T03899
Exh: John Constable, R.A., Colehester Public Library 1950-1 (2, repr.); The Constable Family - Five Generations, Christchurch Mansion, Ipswich, June-Sept. 1954 (4), South London Art Gallery, Camberwell, Oct-Nov. 1954 (25) and subsequent tour (see T03899); First Loan Exhibition, The Minories, Colehester, May-June 1958 (22); John Constable: The Natural Painter, Auckland City Art Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Sept. 1973-Jan. 1974 (46, repr.); on loan to Tate Gallery 1975-84

According to C.R. Leslie, Constable first met his future wife, Maria Bicknell (1788-1828), in 1800 when she was staying with her grandfather the Revd Dr Rhudde at East Bergholt rectory (Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, 1843, p.12, ed. J. Mayne, 1951, p.25). By 1809 a close attachment existed, at least on Constable's side. In February 1816 he recalled that it had been seven years since he avowed his love for her (R.B. Beckett, ed., John Constable's Correspondence, II, Ipswich 1964, p.179). Judging by Maria's apparent age (surely no more than twenty-one), this drawing was made no later than 1809 and quite possibly a few years before that.

Two other portraits of Maria are in the Tate Gallery: the famous oil of 1816, painted by Constable a few months before their marriage, and T03903, which shows her with two of her children. An unfinished oil painting of Maria with three of her children is still in the Constable family collection (Graham Reynolds, The Later Paintings and Drawings of John Constable, New Haven and London 1984, no.22.67, pl.390 in col.), as is a drawing thought to show her in the last years of her life (repr. Freda Constable, John Constable, Lavenham 1975, p.109). Drawings of Maria made in 1819 and c.1820 are also known (Reynolds 1984, nos. 19.34, 20.87; see also 18.40, 19.20, 24.57 for drawings possibly of her).

Published in:
The Tate Gallery 1984-86: Illustrated Catalogue of Acquisitions Including Supplement to Catalogue of Acquisitions 1982-84, Tate Gallery, London 1988, p.18

Read more

Explore

  • people(22,072)
    • adults(20,120)
      • woman(9,110)
    • body(4,878)
      • head / face(2,497)
    • named individuals(12,887)
      • Bicknell, Maria Elizabeth(3)
      • Constable, Maria Elizabeth(3)
    • portraits(4,491)
      • individuals: female(1,698)

You might like

Left Right
  • John Constable Maria Bicknell, Mrs John Constable

    1816
  • John Constable View towards Stratford St Mary Church

    c.1805
    View by appointment
  • John Constable Mrs James Andrew

    1818
  • John Constable Susannah Lloyd

    1806
  • John Constable Self-Portrait

    1806
    View by appointment
  • John Constable Ann Constable

    c.1800–5 or ?c.1815
  • John Constable Maria Constable with Two of her Children. Verso: Copy after Teniers

    c.1820
  • John Constable Study for ‘Flatford Mill’

    c.1816
    View by appointment
  • John Constable Shipping in the Thames or Medway

    1803
    View by appointment
  • John Constable Shipping in the Thames or Medway. Verso: Sketch of Shipping

    1803
    View by appointment
  • John Constable Mary Ann Bridges at the Harpsichord with Two of her Sisters

    c.1804
    View by appointment
  • John Constable View over a Valley, Probably Epsom Downs

    c.1806
    View by appointment
  • John Constable Sketch of Shipping. Two Large Ships and a Yacht

    1803
    View by appointment
  • John Constable Sketch of Shipping. Three Large Ships, a Yacht in the Foreground

    1803
    View by appointment
  • John Constable Sketch of Shipping. Three Ships

    1803
    View by appointment
Close

Join in

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
Sign up to emails

Sign up to emails

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Tate’s privacy policy

About

  • About us
  • Our collection
  • Terms and copyright
  • Governance
  • Picture library
  • ARTIST ROOMS
  • Tate Kids

Support

  • Tate Collective
  • Members
  • Patrons
  • Donate
  • Corporate
  • My account
  • Press
  • Jobs
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Cookies
  • Contact