From a young age John would go around the Suffolk countryside on what he called “sketching trips” in which he ______--. These scenes as he stated, “made me a painter, and I am grateful;the sound of water escaping from mills dams etc., willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts, and brickwork, I love such things.” These pastoral scenes he would sketch would come to play a key role in his future art. As a young man John was introduced to an art collector named George Beaumont, who would be highly influential in John’s decision of pursuing art. George introduced him to Claude Lorrain’s painting Hagar and Angel, a beautiful painting which captivated John and inspired him to start pursuing a career in art. Some time later he was introduced to John…show more content… Not only did his father allow him to do so, but he also granted him a small allowance with which John attended the Royal Academy School as a probationer. The school was highly renowned since it was led by eminent artists. In his first years there Constable absorbed influences from Gainsborough’s landscape paintings. He also took life classes, attended anatomical dissections and studied old masters. In 1802 Constable refused the position of drawing master at Great Marlow Military College, a move which Benjamin West, then a master, advised (would have meant end of his career how?) Constable realized that within such limitations he could not paint the English countryside as he saw it( how did he see it?) In search for more suitable methods he decided to create his own art. He addressed this determination in a letter to John Dunthorne, “For the last two years I have been running after pictures, and seeking the truth at second hand... I have not endeavoured to represent nature with the same elevation of mind with which I set out, but have rather tried to make my performances look like the work of other men...There is room enough for a natural
