Golding Constable's House, East Bergholt: the Artist's birthplace
John Constable
ca. 1809
Home was central to Constable’s life and work. Here, he paints the graceful brick house where he was born, a symbol of his father’s prosperity and local standing. Growing up in a landowning class, Constable experienced from childhood the social responsibilities and many privileges that accompanied that life.The panoramic format of this oil sketch shows the extent of the family’s property as well as the dramatic expanse of sky above. Constable used swift dabs of paint to reproduce the light breaking through thelong shadows among the rolling clouds.
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven · Image: Yale Center for British Art, Public domain · Text: Yale Center for British Art, CC0