Hampstead Heath, Harrow in the distance

1821

“The Hay Wain” at the Royal Academy

The picture, shown as “Landscape: Noon”, found no buyer, but it was seen by the painter Théodore Géricault and the writer Charles Nodier. According to Delacroix, Géricault went back to France quite stunned and invited Constable to Paris, while Nodier urged French artists to look to nature rather than to trips to Rome.

1824

The Paris Salon: a gold medal

The Anglo-French dealer John Arrowsmith bought The Hay Wain and other works, and in 1824 they were shown at the Paris Salon, where they caused a sensation. The Hay Wain was awarded a gold medal by Charles X.

1824

Delacroix repaints the background of “The Massacre at Chios”

After seeing Constable’s pictures at Arrowsmith’s gallery, Delacroix repainted the background of his Massacre at Chios, saying the paintings had done him a great deal of good. In his journal he noted that Constable’s meadow greens are a combination of many different shades.

1824–1828

The family in Brighton for Maria’s health

When Maria began to show symptoms of tuberculosis, Constable took lodgings for the family in Brighton in the hope that sea air would restore her health, dividing his time between Brighton and Charlotte Street in London. He was unsure at first that Brighton suited painting, and complained to Fisher that the beach was only Piccadilly by the sea.

23 November 1828

The death of his wife Maria

After the birth of their seventh child the family returned to Hampstead, where Maria died of tuberculosis at the age of 41. “Hourly do I feel the loss of my departed Angel,” Constable wrote to his brother.

1829

Elected to the Royal Academy at fifty-two

In February 1829, three months after his wife’s death, Constable was elected a member of the Royal Academy, at the age of 52.