Constable in Love, Love, Landscape, Money and the Making of a Great Painter
When John Constable, a struggling young painter, fell in love with Maria Bicknell, daughter of a prominent London lawyer, it was not only the disapproval of her father that counted against him in his suit but lack of ‘the necessary article. Cash.’
Through John and Maria’s correspondence their touching love story unfolds. All the while, John is badgered by his mother to get down to the work of painting and furthering his career while Maria is constantly reminded of what might happen to her should she marry a penniless painter.
Constable’s contemporaries – JMW Turner, Byron and Wordsworth – are among the characters that enrich this story of Constable’s struggle to become an acknowledged artist and marry the woman he loved.
