2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of the quintessential English landscapist John Constable. Enormously popular and endlessly reproduced, his paintings today are familiar – perhaps over-familiar. But his modern reputation masks a radical, experimental artist who pushed the boundaries of art of his time just as much as his near-contemporary (and far more successful) rival Turner. Tate Britain will be showing a major exhibition of their work from November 2025 until April 2026. This lecture will examine Constable’s career and propose five reasons why he should be considered revolutionary and Britain’s greatest landscape painter. Time to re-assess an artist who sold more tea towels than he did canvases in his lifetime.
Lecturer: Alan Read
Alan has a masters and first-class honours degree in History of Art from Birkbeck College, University of London. He is a gallery guide at Tate Britain and regularly lectures at both London Tates. For twenty years he was a gallery guide and lecturer at the National Portrait Gallery and the Dulwich Picture Gallery. He also works as a London Blue Badge Guide.
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