transformationaL Pra Cti Ceadvocating that they do this, but as a means to a scientific understanding of nature, not
in order to record the sensory moment: that is to say, observation is a means of arriving
at an understanding of the structure and order of nature that govern the empirical
world of events. The importance of scientific understanding is conveyed forcibly in an
extended footnote (leslie 1951: 316f.) that offers a mini- thesis on the reflection and
refraction of light, in which he draws on the work of his friend, the scientist george
Field.^8 Constable was advocating that if the artist is to see, then the artist must know:
to know, the artist should acquire scientific understanding of nature and its effects,
and, guided by a scientific method of observation, apply that understanding in poetic
interpretation. in summary, Constable was not a realist, his ambitions were not directed
toward topographical truth but the poetic expression of the wonder of nature, and
the novelty of his project is his commitment to the substantive function of scientific
understanding in attaining this goal. To what extent, then, did Constable succeed in his
ambition; how was his work received during and after his lifetime?
Conjunctive intent seen as disjunctive presencein Britain, Constable’s art failed to gain significant recognition amongst his
contemporaries, notwithstanding his eventual election to the Royal academy. Wilson
(Wilson 1979: 88) notes that his contemporaries, ‘were baffled by or disliked’ his
‘trivial’ subject matter, the brightness of his colour and the roughness of his handling.
Constable reports a comment made by henry Fuseli (leslie 1951: 101) to the artist
david Wilkie in which, after first flattering Constable’s landscapes as picturesque, of
fine colour and correctly lit, observes, ‘but he makes me call for my greatcoat and
umbrella.’ in a similar vein, John Ruskin said of Constable that he was a painter who,
‘perceives in a landscape that grass is wet, the meadows flat and the boughs shady; that
is to say, about as much as, i suppose, might in general be apprehended, between them,
by an intelligent fawn and a skylark’ (mayne in leslie 1951: xii). Both critics imply that
Constable’s art offers nothing that elevates the mind; his ambitions to poetry simply
passed them by, although they acknowledge his truth to nature. hence, Constable’s
synthesis of poetry and science was not visible to most of his British contemporaries. in
contrast, when the Haywain, was exhibited in France at the salon of 1824, the response
was very different. The painter William Brockedon (1787–1854) wrote to Constable in
december 1824 of the division in the school of French landscape painters created by
his pictures noting:
the next exhibition in paris will teem with your imitators, or the school of
nature versus the school of Birmingham. i saw one man draw another to your
pictures with this expression, ‘look at these landscapes by an englishman –
the ground appears to be covered with dew’.
(leslie 1951: 132)The poet stendhal (1783–1842) wrote of Constable’s paintings in the salon: ‘The
english this year have submitted magnificent landscapes by Constable. i am not sure
there is anything i can say against them. Their truth immediately strikes the viewer and
draws him into the work’ (harrison et al. 1998: 35).