Life and letters of John Constable, R. A (1896) (14592914068)

Identifier: lifelettersofjoh00lesl (find matches)
Title: Life and letters of John Constable, R. A
Year: 1896 (1890s)
Authors: Leslie, Charles Robert, 1794-1859
Subjects: Contable, John, 1776-1837 Artists
Publisher: London : Chapman and Hall
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive



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stables death, though acute, were ofvery short duration, and he was spared a world of anxiety, whichthe thought of leaving his children young, and orphans, must haveoccasioned, had he lingered on a sick bed with no hope of recovery—anxiety which, with such feelings as his, would have beenextreme. I have said, continues my father in another place, thatConstable was a gentleman, everywhere and at all times, and asmuch to the humblest as to the greatest people. He even con-ciliated that untractable class, the hackney coachman; for in histime there were no cabs. He would say on getting into a coach. 33* THE LIFE OF JOHN CONSTABLE. (Chap. XVI. Now, my good fellow, drive me a shilling fare towards so-and-so,and dont cheat yourself Not long after his death I was leavinghis house, and sent for a coach from the stand near it. When Igot home the driver said, I knew Mr. Constable ; and, when Iheard he was dead, I was as sorry as if he had been my own father—he was as nice a man as that, sir.
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< o QZ< CHAPTER XVII. Arundel Mill and Castle Exhibited, 1837.—Presentation of The Corn Field tothe Nation.—Constables Character.—Selections from his Memoranda.—Forgeriesof his Pictures.—Authors Visit to Bergholt in 1840. By a law of the Royal Academy, works, not before exhibited, ofa deceased artist, are allowed to appear in the first exhibition,and that one only, which follows his death; and Constablespicture of Arundel Mill and Castle was considered by hisfriends sufiiciently completed to be sent to the Academy. Hehad begun two smaller pictures, but they were not forwardenough to be admitted even as sketches; and the Mill was,therefore, the only work of his pencil that graced the Exhibitionof 1837, the first in Trafalgar Square. The scene was oneentirely after his own heart, and he had taken great pains torender it complete in all its details; and in that silvery brightnessof effect which was a chief aim with him, in the latter years ofhis life, it is not surpassed