Brief Biography-John Constable was from East Bergholt in Suffolk. His father was a wealthy corn merchant who gave John a carefree childhood after he took him out of a strict boarding school and schooled him in the local village of Dedham, where he was encouraged to draw by the schoolmaster. His father put him into the family business, but John never took a shine to it. However, when he was nineteen, he met a painter George Beaumont who owned a Claude Lorrain work, the painting Hagar and the Angel inspired John to dedicate himself to art. He subsequently went to London and took lessons from the artist Antiquity Smith who mentored him in art skills. His younger brother Abram took over his role in the family business, and his father gave him an allowance to study in the Royal Academy Schools.
He quickly learned that the Academy did not much regard landscape painting. Portraiture and history scenes were the mainstream in art. He spent his summers using a cottage in Bergholt as a studio and travelling the country in his spare time. He went to the Peak District but was unhappy in the Lake District; the remoteness was too oppressive. By this time, he was a Master of Landscapes, but he was unable to make a living, and he was still not made a member of the Academy.
In 1816 he married Maria Bicknell after seven years of opposition from her father; it became possible due to his parents having died and receiving an annual allowance from the family business. They settled in Keppel Street Bloomsbury, where they had their first son. In 1820, he painted The Hay Wain, finishing it in the spring of 1821. They moved to Hampstead with their second son that year, where the farming landscapes inspired him. A few years later, the King of France awarded him a medal for The Hay Wain.
By 1828 they had six children, Marie was in poor health, and after the birth of the seventh child, she became feverish and died that year. John was severely affected by her death. However, the following year his spirits were picked up somewhat when his rival J.M. Turner arrived to tell him he had become a full Academician. His last major painting was The Valley Farm. He died in March 1837.