Vallon à Helmingham [Helmingham Dell]

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.

1821

“I should paint my own places best”

In a letter to his friend John Fisher in 1821 Constable wrote that he should paint his own places best, and that painting is but another word for feeling. The Dedham Vale around his home came to be known as “Constable Country”.

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.

1825

A quarrel with Arrowsmith: the French market is lost

In 1825 Constable quarrelled with Arrowsmith and lost his French outlet, perhaps partly from worry over his wife’s health, the uncongenial life at Brighton and the pressure of outstanding commissions. In a few years he had sold more than twenty pictures in France, more than he sold at home.