Constable: 'Six Footers'

This display is based around three of John Constable’s largest paintings. Known as his ‘six-footers’, they marked a turning point in his career. Their size and subjects reflect Constable’s growing ambition and his wish for his art to be taken more seriously. With these works, he established himself as a leading figure in British landscape painting.

The urban scenes in this room might surprise you. Constable is best known for rural views of his native Stour Valley, which lies between Suffolk and Essex in south-east England. By painting urban settings – Brighton, Salisbury and London – Constable showed he could work beyond ‘Constable Country’. He was also engaged with the issues shaping these places, such as new transport infrastructure, political reform and air pollution.

Each painting shows Constable’s desire to capture lively atmospheric effects. Look closely at his canvases to see the bold ways he achieved this. His expressive marks and surfaces sought to recreate the textures that he saw in nature. He applied dabs and dashes of white paint to create, in his words, ‘freshness’ and ‘sparkle’.