Each year between 1819 and 1825, John Constable (1776-1837) submitted a monumental canvas to the Royal Academy of Arts in London for display in the annual Exhibition. These so-called six-footers vividly captured the life of the River Stour in Suffolk, where Constable grew up and where he returned to paint each year. The Leaping Horse, the last of these, now a major work in the Academy's collection, is the subject of this fascinating new book. Humphreys explores Constable's often avant-garde working methods, as well as his struggle to gain full acceptance within the art establishment of the early nineteenth century. With reproductions of his full-scale preliminary sketches as well as brand new photography of the painting itself, this book is the ideal companion for art lovers who seek a deeper appreciation of Constable's iconic depictions of the English countryside. AUTHOR: Richard Humphreys is the author of Wyndham Lewis (2004), and editor of Tate's British Artists series. He was formerly Curator of Programme Research at Tate Britain, London. SELLING POINT: * An engaging examination of one of the Royal Academy's most important treasures, the painting described by Lucian Freud as 'the greatest painting in the world' 50 colour illustrations

Accurate re-creations of 30 portraits and landscapes include Boat-Building near Flatford Mill;Malvern Hall, Warwickshire;The White Horse; The Haywain; and MarineParade and Chain Pier, Brighton."

Published to accompany an exhibition held at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, September 20, 2014-January 11, 2015.

On John Constable as a proto-abstractionist of pastoral landscape One of Britain's greatest landscape painters, John Constable was brought up in Dedham Vale, the valley of the River Stour in Suffolk. The eldest son of a wealthy mill owner, he entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1800 at the age of 24, and thereafter committed himself to painting nature out of doors. His "six-footers," such as The Hay Wainand The Leaping Horse, were designed to promote landscape as a subject and to stand out in the Academy's Annual Exhibition. Despite this, he sold few paintings in his lifetime and was elected a Royal Academician late in his career. With texts by leading authorities on the artist, this handsome book looks at the freedom of Constable's late works and records his enormous contribution to the English landscape tradition. John Constable(1776-1837) is one of Britain's best-known artists, and is often considered one of the greatest landscape painters of all time. He was born near the River Stour in Suffolk, an area the artist depicted so frequently that it is referred to as "Constable country." Pastoral scenes were unfashionable at the time and Constable struggled to establish himself as a painter. He was finally elected a Royal Academician in 1829, and in 1832, he exhibited The Opening of Waterloo Bridge--an effort 13 years in the making--at the Summer Exhibition.

This study concentrates on the six foot canvases of the River Stour produced by Constable between 1819 and 1825 and examines the artist's development of this single thematic concept. Each work is shown beside its compositional sketch, illustrating his artistic process.

Born in 1776 in East Anglia near the river Stour, John Constable was destined for his father's business of milling and grain-shipping. But he was obdurately opposed to this and persuaded his family he should become an artist instead. In the same determined spirit, he wooed Maria Bicknell in the teeth of opposition from her formidable grandfather, and persisted in painting landscapes at a time when history paintings and portraits were the fashion. Sometimes sharp and sarcastic, and often depressed, Constable in fact possessed a warm gift for intimate friendship. This is revealed in his letters to John Dunthorne, village handyman and housepainter, and to his best friend and patron, archdeacon John Fisher, to whom he wrote: 'I have a kingdom of my own, both fertile and populous - my landscape and my children'. In recent times, after a period of relative ignominy, Constable's influence on British landscape painting has been re-acknowledged, he has been more widely exhibited and his reputation has been reestablished as one of the masters of his genre. This important and absorbing biography explores his life and work, and highlights the dramatic tension between the two.