Late Constable

John Constable R.A., Rainstorm over the Sea, ca. 1824-1828, Royal Academy of Arts, London.

Late Constable – spanning the period from 1825 until the artist’s unexpected death in 1837 – explores the artist’s late style through his paintings and oil sketches as well as watercolours, drawings and prints.. These 12 years are characterised by expressive brushwork, first developed in his plein air oil sketches from nature, as well as his full-size preparatory sketches. He also turned in these years to watercolour and print-making, and some of his late drawings show the same freedom of expression as his paintings from the same period. This work had an important impact on the next generation of painters, heralding the beginning of important movements in the late 19th century.

This exhibition, the first major retrospective of Constable’s at the RA, brings together majestic oil paintings and plein air sketches of the British countryside, as well as studies of weather phenomena capturing ethereal cloud formations, dramatic storms, dappled sunlight and rainbows. You can get an initial idea of these works from the image gallery dedicated to the exhibition.