INTRODUCTION
Constable's father, Golding Constable, came of an old Yorkshire family which had been settled in Suffolk for two generations. By inheritance, by marriage, and by purchase he had, in course of time, become the owner of a considerable amount of property, including Flatford Mill, which stands just above the tidal waters of the Stour, a water-mill at Dedham, and two windmills at East Bergholt. Near this village he built for himself the house in which his second son John was born on 11th June 1776. This house was pulled down many years ago, and exists only on Constable's canvas. An engraving by Lucas, from one of his numerous sketches of it, forms the frontispiece to his "English Landscape Scenery." Several other views of the house may be seen in the room devoted to Constable's work at South Kensington.
Though delicate as an infant, John Constable grew up into a healthy child, and afterwards became remarkable for good looks and physical strength. He was first sent to a boarding school not very far from his home at the age of seven; was transferred later to an establishment in the pretty, little town of Lavenham, where he suffered much at the hands of a flogging usher; and finally went to the Grammar School at Dedham, where he remained till he was about seventeen years old. Here his fondness for painting became noticeable, and was treated with indulgence by the headmaster. Though he acquired a fair knowledge of Latin, he was not a brilliant scholar, and was remarkable chiefly for his fine penmanship. At home he practised painting from nature in company with John Dunthorne, a plumber and glazier, an ingenious and original man, who shared the boy's enthusiasm for art. As in the case of Crome, who, as a boy, was apprenticed for seven years to a coach, house, and sign painter, this early acquaintance with men who used paint in the broadest and simplest manner was doubtless of much use in saving Constable from any pettiness or timidity in the handling of pigment.
As a practical man Golding Constable could not help seeing that painting was not a remunerative profession, and, since his son displayed no inclination for taking orders, it was settled that he should become a miller. With that end in view, the young man worked for a year in his father's mills. However, while thus engaged he made the acquaintance of Sir George Beaumont, whose mother lived at Dedham, and saw for the first time Sir George's favourite Claude—the little "Landscape with
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