This monograph explores the career of John Constable (1776-1837), one of the most important nineteenth-century British artists and the quintessential English landscapist. The painter who pioneered outdoor painting and elevated landscape subjects to masterpieces such as The Hay Wain, Flatford Mill and Dedham Lock - seeing his art as a natural philosophy and each work as a searching experiment - is presented afresh in this approachable yet inquiring new appraisal.

In his thorough survey, Jonathan Clarkson offers the reader comprehensive assessment of Constable's oeuvre: from his earliest line drawings to the last masterpieces, including pencil drawings, quick outdoor oil sketches, painstakingly worked studio canvases, and less well-known portraits.

Combining biographical detail with a rich historical and cultural context, Clarkson discusses Constable's theories and technique in depth, revealing the revolutionary influence Constable had on painting, from his own time to the present day.