"The soaring sublimity of J.M.W. Turner (the triple rat-a-tat of those abbreviated initials seems to give the name added gravitas) is set against the paintings of the humbler-sounding John Constable, a gentler seeker of some authentic representation of Dedham Vale and the Stour Valley in rural England. Though Constable strayed from this landscape into which he was born, he also circled and circled it lifelong. It was his heart's home, inexhaustible as source material."
"Turner had no such place. He was a gadabout, forever thirsting after the shockingly new, but with a passion for recreating scenes of antiquity too. As a young man he was eager to bolt on his wings and fly like a giddy Leonardo: into Europe, for example, to record Alpine scenes of awe-inspiring drama - chasms, soarings! Unfortunately, his efforts to actually get there were often bedeviled by the bloody antics of Napoleon, whose nasty wars dragged on for decades."
An exhibition spanning twelve galleries frames J.M.W. Turner and John Constable as central figures of early 19th-century English art, embodying different artistic impulses. Turner pursues dramatic, sublime effects and adventurous subjects, combining a thirst for novelty with classical and Alpine grandeur. Constable remains rooted in Dedham Vale and the Stour Valley, returning repeatedly to authentic, local representation and intimate observation. Born a year apart, Turner emerged from London and found early success, while Constable came from a rural mill-owning family. The pairing highlights biographical contrasts and divergent creative aims rather than straightforward personal animosity.
Read at Hyperallergic
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