Late Constable

Constable seems - to most of the English I ask (...I don't know about the other 'Home Nations') - to be a typically 'English' artist. His views of the countryside could be interpreted as defining what it is to live in English, a land of tradition and changeable weather, at a time when everything was still in its proper place. There is sense of nostalgia, which is built into the works: so many of them are representations of his childhood haunts in the countryside, though painted much later in the big city, London. He was looking back to a happier past. But he was far from the establishment figure that this might imply, and wasn't elected as a full member of the Royal Academy until he was 52. The RA's exhibition starts just before this event, and looks at the works he made in the last two decades of his life. This talk will introduce paintings which are included, using these to discuss his working process, and will suggest what was truly innovative - and influential - about his art.

Apologies - my talks are not recorded.