Pollarded Willows

1802

Turns down a drawing-master post

Constable declined the post of drawing master at Great Marlow Military College, which Benjamin West, then head of the Academy, said would end his career. In a letter to John Dunthorne he admitted he had spent two years seeking the truth at second hand and declared his resolve to become a professional landscape painter.

1802–1803

First exhibitions at the Royal Academy

Constable first showed his work in 1802, and by 1803 he was exhibiting paintings at the Royal Academy.

1803

A month aboard the Coutts

Constable spent almost a month aboard the East Indiaman Coutts as it called at south-east ports on its way from London to Deal, before leaving for China.

1804

A year without exhibiting

In 1804 Constable showed no pictures at all, telling his friend Joseph Farington that nothing was to be gained by setting his work against paintings extravagant in colour and in bad taste. His small canvases were easily lost on walls hung from ceiling to floor.

1806

Two months in the Lake District

In 1806 Constable toured the Lake District for two months. The solitude of the mountains oppressed him; as his friend and biographer Leslie wrote, he needed villages, churches, farmhouses and cottages.