112 THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
scene of his brush, the Church tower of Dedham, for instance, being introduced
in impossible situations. As the barge went on, Mr. Benham read a brief paper
on Constable :—
JOHN CONSTABLE AS A "NATURALIST."
By Charles E. Benham.
" Full details of Constable's life have over and over again been published, and
some outline of his career has already been given to the members of this Club. I
will therefore endeavour to impart some novelty to the subject, after I have
briefly recalled a few biographical details, by pointing out how essentially were
his aims identical with those of the true naturalist. As a landscape painter his
life's motto and the moral of his works may be said to be 'fidelity to nature'—a
principle which the naturalist must approve. It was his determined devotion to
nature, unadorned by conventional ideas, which caused his paintings to be so
warmly appreciated after his death and so coldly unappreciated during the greater
portion of his life.
" John Constable was born at East Bergholt, June, 1776. His father,
Golding Constable, inherited considerable wealth, including Flatford Mill, Ded-
ham Mill, and two windmills at East Bergholt. John was the second son in
order of time, but, of course, the first in order of distinction. He was a puny
infant and not expected to live, but it seemed as if the great Reaper caught a
glimpse of his promising gleams of genius and drew back his sickle, for to the
astonishment of his parents he not only survived his infancy, but developed into
a stalwart and healthy youth. At seven years old he was sent to a school at
Lavenham—not a very satisfactory school, for the master spent his time in love-
making, and the usher spent most of his in flogging the boys, which evoked rather
revolutionary feelings in the breast of Constable. From Lavenham he was
removed to Dedham Grammar School. Here, though he distinguished himself
but little except in penmanship, the master had a clear perception that his pupil
was a genius. It was at this time that he first acquired the love of art, and he was
much assisted and encouraged by a neighbour, the artist John Dunthorne, whose
memory is none the less distinguished from the fact that he was actually Con-
stable's first tutor in sketching and painting. Constable's parents were a little
proud and a little ashamed of their son's tendencies towards the fine arts. In their
narrow-minded simplicity they looked upon artists as people of questionable
morals and doubtful respectability, as compared with those who adopted the more
orthodox and highly lucrative profession of grinding corn. And yet his mother,
with natural maternal pride, obtained through the Dowager Lady Beaumont, who
lived at Dedham, an introduction to Sir G. Beaumont, who in that day was the
leviathan of art critics—the authoritative autocrat on style and propriety in art.
He was a pedantic old fellow, no doubt, but he had good sense enough to see
great merit in Constable's efforts, and good nature enough to help him with advice
and with studies for his guidance. This valuable patronage even induced his
father, somewhat half-heartedly, to let the young man try his fortunes as an art
student in London. There Constable made some valued friends and was getting
on well, but circumstances necessitated his return to the uncongenial work of the
mill at Flatford, to the great delight of his parents, who augured from the circum-
stance that there was, after all, a prospect of his ensuring respectability and com-
fort. A very few years later, however, his father was wise enough to realise that
where the young man's heart was there his treasure was more likely to be also,