Often called England’s foremost landscape painter, John Constable was one of the first artists to paint en plein air. The current exhibit at the Princeton Art Museum, John Constable: Oil Sketches from the Victoria and Albert Museum, takes a deeper look at the works and pioneering style of this revolutionary artist.
Constable was strongly influenced by the natural surroundings of his family’s country home and would often return as an adult to capture the local fields and farms. He used oil sketches to better translate the inspiring color and light that fueled him by painting outdoors. It is said that Constable painted quickly on scraps of canvas pinned to a paint box lid which he balanced on his knees. His style of portraying the lush natural environment caught the attention of a younger generation of painters who quickly set up their easels in the wilds of the natural world and contributed to the eventual rise of Romanticism.
John Constable: Oil Sketches from the Victoria and Albert Museum is on display at the Princeton Art Museum until June 10, 2012. It was organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and will make only two stops in North America.
John Constable, Full-scale study for The Hay Wain, 1821. Oil on canvas. 137 x 188 cm. Victoria and Albert Museum (987-1900) © Victoria and Albert Museum / V&A images.
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