THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
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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 Academy, and from that date he exhibited every year, 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 1802 that Constable made
the 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.
Drawn by C. E. Benham,
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 failed 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 Royal Academician. About the same time he executed his work on
I