. . .by John Constable RA, painted in Brighton during the period 1824-28 and gifted to the Royal Academy by one of his daughters Isabel in 1888. For the benefit of his wife's health Constable had rented a property in what has since become Sillwood Road.
He did not like Brighton, finding it rowdy and describing the beach as "Piccadilly or worse by the seaside". His reservations are perhaps not surprising given his country roots and the pastoral idylls which made him famous. Thankfully they did not deter him from painting and sketching the locality. His wife died in 1828 of tuberculosis and is buried in Hampstead. Plans are afoot to mark the Sillwood Road house with a blue plaque.
A plaque to Constable has now been unveiled.
ReplyDeletehttp://brightonbits.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/blue-plaque-to-john-constable-unveiled.html