Constable & Bomberg | Constable in depth | Bomberg in depth

Biography

John Constable was an English landscape painter in the 19th century. Although he was not very successful in England, he did have a noticeable effect on French painting, when one of his works were selected for the Salon of 1824 by the French art dealer Arrowsmith.

For most of Constable’s working life though, he struggled and was always in difficult financial circumstances. Additionally, this wife was often ill and he had several children to support. His wife, Maria, suffered from tuberculosis and to improve her well-being, he hoped that a long-term stay at Brighton with its fresh sea air, would return her to good health. Unfortunately, this proved not to be the case, and she later died leaving him distraught and having to care for his children. 

Constable did not enjoy Brighton, feeling that it was full of trivial, self regarding and preening fashionable fools. Despite this, whilst in Brighton, Constable went out sketching most days with a paintbox and portable easel.

Many of the sketches that he produced in Brighton are now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert museum in London. These works are often small in scale and made on card with prepared grounds. Constable would work from burned umber (dark brown), mid blue, bottle green or, pale alizarin crimson (pale pink) coloured grounds.

This work

This work is often called "Looking across Hove towards Shoreham" but is titled by the Victoria and Albert Museum as ‘Coast seen at Brighton: evening’ (oil painting) by John Constable. 1828.

The work has been made on a pink coloured ground. It is a small piece measuring around 230 x 450 mm. The work was probably made in one or two sessions and features some scumbling brushwork in the sky, with a large, lightly weighted, brush worked vigorously over the background colour. 

This brushwork has been augmented by thicker paint in layers of red and orange which have been patchily applied to the middle of the sky and which in turn darkens ht4 sky as it reaches the bottom left area. Over this, Constable has applied some thicker areas in small strokes of orange and white to mark out the illuminated clouds and also in crimson to show the shadowed edges of the clouds. He has then brushed in paint with a bigger brush, and thinner layers, with some wet on wet techniques to show the shadowed blue-grey clouds.

Under the sky, the background scene of some shallow hills is brushed in quickly with more wet paint. This is carried out in a range of blues and purples which harmonise against the yellows and purples in the sky. 

In the mid-ground, the distant town is indicated with quick and deft strokes made with a thin brush and thicker paint. These small strokes are made with light, near white, tones and dark browns. These are applied over more thin washes of grey purple.

The foreground areas are established by medium-size brushes with slightly thicker paint applying two or three different greens – one light, and two dark green. These have been worked in wet on wet. 

In the foreground there is some impasto work as well, with a light beige colour being used to indicate broken soil or raw earth. This is the thickest paint in the picture and creates a streaked area of texture. It conveys a looser area of tone that the viewer looks past towards the deeper space and the subject of the painting.

Above these areas, the main incidents and visual interest of the painting are applied as people, who are flicked in with very small quick strokes of extreme dark and light. Then, the viewer meets the visual focus of the painting, the setting sun. This is an area of impasto and near white paint. The sun becomes the brightest element in the picture and the focus of the painting. It is the lightest and largest area of light tone in the painting and the visual measurement against which all the other tones are balanced. This light is the true source of light in the painting and everything is less bright against it.

Unlike the comparison work here, by David Bomberg, this scene is harmonious and elegant. The light and dark tones in the sky do not work against one another, but create a continuous and wholesome atmosphere of the end of the present-day. The brushstrokes of the darker clouds are delicate, and beautifully placed to create a sense of atmosphere and space. They are not at all troubling and the light and dark tones are balanced to create a sense of equilibrium rather than sickliness. The viewer does not get a sense that the world is troubled at all, but rather, that this is the end of another pleasing day. The moment itself is delightful, almost ecstatic. Nature is shown as calm, beautiful and at ease.

The Victoria and Albert museum disagree with my assessment, saying “This view depicts the setting sun over Shoreham-by-Sea, west of Brighton. The location was praised as 'one of the most pleasant and rural situations in the vicinity'. The melancholy (sad) character of this sunset scene may be linked to the declining health of Constable's wife Maria, who died six months later.”

In my opinion, John Constable has used painting effects to create a scene of tranquillity, space and harmony. There is a slight dreamlike quality, but I don't believe this to be sorrowful, desolate or set in mourning. In fact, I think all the colours blend together in a positive and appealing fashion. The colours glow because of the strength of the sun relative to all the other colours but this gives the image the feeling of a reverie (fantasy, vision, musing) rather than a downcast or gloomy atmosphere. 

There are a range of brushstrokes which combine together to create a sense of a balanced world with differences that complement one another. Although the brushstrokes are varied and different in application and character, they are never given to the viewer as an earnest and personal depiction of the scene, but are instead portrayed as an open, honest and workmanlike rendering of something beautiful and fleeting. Whilst we get the sense that Constable produced this ‘there and then’, we do not feel him to be imposing his vision on the scene, but rather to be opening himself up to the beauty and reality around him and by quickly, and deftly working, producing something of the beauty he saw with charm, thoughtfulness and skill.

The viewer decides, is the sun setting with sadness or serenity.