John Constable

I have never thought I would write a post about any British painters. Not that they are not good, it's just I can't find many I could say their paintings speak to me. John Constable is probably one rare exception. Famous now for his landscape paintings and perhaps also for the sentimental undertones hidden in his brush strokes, Constable was not recognized as a true master until his death.

Perhaps what is less known is his passionate and endearing relationship with Maria Bicknell (later Mrs. Constable). A gap of twelve years between their ages did not bother either of them. Both fell in love in 1809 but the relationship was faced with great opposition from Maria's family. They did not get married until 1816. The marriage has a profound impact on Constable's paintings. All of sudden, the melancholy undertone has transformed into vivid optimism. His best paintings were produced during his twelve years of immensely happy marriage to Maria.

This is Maria Bicknell, seen and painted by her beloved husband, John Constable, in July 1816, three months before the marriage. It feels as if the love is pouring all over the canvas. Look at her eyes, deeper than the deepest canyon on earth and yet the yearning just keeps on gushing out. I can almost hear that John whispers: we are together, at last.

That's the power of love, standing through the heaviest opposition, defying all the impossibles and lasting till the end. John and Maria were married for twelve years. Maria died from tuberculosis in 1828, John mourned for Maria for the rest of his life.