THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB. 



113 



and in 1799 John returned to London, and devoted himself for life to the profes- 

 sion for which he was so evidently destined. He worked with great earnestness, 

 for he possessed the rarely combined faculty of perseverance and natural talent. 

 Plenty of men can fag, and plenty of men have natural gifts, but as a rule the 

 fagging man has not the talent, and the talented man will not submit to the fag- 

 ging. Constable, like most geniuses, was an example of both, and by dint of 

 these two levers he so far succeeded that in 1802 he made his first exhibit at the 

 Royal Acadeni}-, and from that date he exhibited every 3'ear, with one exception, 

 till 1837, 134 of his paintings having been hung in that time. It is noteworthy 

 that the Hanging Committee declined his Flatford Mill, to his great disappoint- 

 ment. It was, however, exhibited in 1812. It was in 1S02 that Constable made 

 tlie great resolve which was the secret of the charm of his landscapes. He deter- 

 mined thenceforward to follow nature uncompromisingly, and to pay no attention 

 to artificial ideas about style. 'There is room,' he said, 'for a natural painter, ' 



Constable's House, Flatford Mill. 

 Dratvn by C. E. Benhaiii, 



and that title was thenceforward his goal. Landscape, however, was not his only 

 theme. Sea pieces and portraits were also in his programme, and, though perhaps 

 with less success, he by no means fai'ed in his scriptural subjects. In 1809 he 

 painted an altar piece for Nayland Church, ' Christ Blessing the Bread and 

 Wine.' This painting suffered much from neglect, or, to put it euphemistically, 

 from damp, and in 1880 it had to be sent to London to be restored. He also 

 painted a picture which is in Brantham Church, though unfortunately the name 

 of the artist has been effaced from some singular 'religious' motive. After his 

 father's death Constable married a Miss Bicknell, whom he had unsuccess- 

 fully courted long before, the obstacle having been his doubtful prospects 

 of income. He was never in actual financial difficulties ; though but for fortunate 

 legacies which came to the lot of himself and his wife he probably would have 

 been. Not till nearly the end of his life was he sufficiently recognised to be 

 elected Ro3'al Academician. About the same time he executed his work on 



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