John Constable was not by any stretch of imagination a household name in England. But his rich landscapes gained him notoriety in France and eventually would cast him as one of the great English Romantic painters.
Threatened with disinheritance, his friend and abiding love Maria Bicknell waited patiently until he inherited some funds so that he might continue to invest his time at painting. Their’s was a romantic love story which some argue helped enrich Constable’s art.
Maria died of T.B after birthing their seventh child at the tender age of forty one. After that, deeply affected by her loss, Constable wore only black. He raised their children as a single parent, eventually becoming a popular guest lecturer and noted critic of the Gothic Revival.
