The Constable Connection
This page was reviewed 07 January 2013
Sorry Folks! If you thought that there was going to be a connection with the John Constable, I am afraid that there isn't one! But, for a long time, the family thought that there was.
The above oil-painting was inherited from my Gillett grandfather, who may have inherited it from his father, although there is a possibility that it might have been acquired by Emily Fargus.
It is signed John Constable, but was painted by a Hull artist of that name. To quote from an encyclopaedia of Hull artists:
John Constable
A letter written to the Eastern Morning News, 18th May 1909, tells of an artist of this name who lived at 47 Church Street, Sculcoates, in 1846. The writer speaks of owning oil paintings by him. The directories show the name and address between the dates 1842 and 1851, but the John Constable living there was a bone-merchant, who moved later to 33 St James Street. Perhaps this was the father of the artist. From 1863 to 1873 the only John Constable to appear in the directories was a 'Gentleman', living at 17 Bath Place. There is no trace locally of the artist's work. A landscape bearing his name was sold at Wells, March 1951. It was an ambitious work of considerable ability, not unlike an imitation of J Constable RA, and may possibly be attributed to our local artist founding his style on the more famous bearer of the name.
This page was created on 07 January 2013