Details

COLEM:192A

Colchester Collections

painting, oil painting

Ann Constable (1748-1815) c.1800-05

Ann Watts was the daughter of a London cooper and she married Golding Constable in 1767. John Constable was the fourth of their six children. She encouraged her son's artistic career, especially during his early years in London, and wrote to him regularly from Suffolk. This portrait probably dates from about 1800–5 when she was in her fifties. ‘East Bergholt, January 6th 1815. My dear son John. I send you a mother’s Christmas gift, in the form of six new shirts. Four of them are hemp, and you said you should like to try them for working shirts. The other two are Sunday ones,…O, my dear John, pray keep out of debt… You must try hard for fame and gain…’ A later copy of this portrait exists in Tate's collection (Reynolds 04.11).

John Constable (artist)‎

East Bergholt, Suffolk

1800 - 1804

19th Century

oil paint, canvas

support height: 90.50 cm
support width: 71.00 cm
frame height: 110.00 cm
frame width: 89.50 cm
frame depth: 6.50 cm