Editing John Constable (section)

== Marriage ==
[[File:John Constable (1776-1837) - Maria Bicknell, Mrs John Constable - N02655 - National Gallery.jpg|thumb|right|upright|Maria Bicknell, painted by Constable in 1816. [[Tate Britain]].]]
From 1809, his childhood friendship with Maria Elizabeth Bicknell developed into a deep, mutual love. Their marriage in 1816 when Constable was 40 was opposed by Maria's grandfather, Dr. Rhudde, [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]] of East Bergholt. He considered the Constables his social inferiors and threatened Maria with disinheritance. Maria's father, Charles Bicknell, solicitor to [[George IV of the United Kingdom|George IV]] and the Admiralty,<ref>Information from Constable's gravestone</ref> was reluctant to see Maria throw away her inheritance. Maria pointed out to John that a penniless marriage would detract from any chances he had of making a career in painting. Golding and Ann Constable, while approving the match, held out no prospect of supporting the marriage until Constable was financially secure. After they died in quick succession, Constable inherited a fifth share in the family business.
[[File:Constable osmington bay.tif|left|thumb|''Osmington Bay'', 1816, oil on canvas. [[Clark Art Institute]], gift of the Manton Art Foundation in memory of Sir Edwin and Lady Manton.]]
John and Maria's marriage in October 1816 at [[St Martin-in-the-Fields]] (with Fisher officiating) was followed by time at Fisher's vicarage and a honeymoon tour of the south coast. The sea at [[Weymouth, Dorset|Weymouth]] and [[Brighton]] stimulated Constable to develop new techniques of brilliant colour and vivacious brushwork. At the same time, a greater emotional range began to be expressed in his art.<ref>{{Harvnb|Parkinson|1998|p= 24}}</ref> While on honeymoon, Constable began to experiment with works exploring nature's grandeur, characterized by dominating skies, such as ''Osmington Bay''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Osmington Bay |url=https://www.clarkart.edu/artpiece/detail/osmington-bay |access-date=2023-06-14 |website=www.clarkart.edu}}</ref>

Three weeks before their marriage, Constable revealed that he had started work on his most ambitious project to date<ref name="Tate: Flatford Mill">[https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/constable-flatford-mill-scene-on-a-navigable-river-n01273 Tate: Flatford Mill]</ref> In a letter to Maria Bicknell from East Bergholt, he wrote:

{{blockquote|’I am now in the midst of a large picture here which I had contemplated for the next exhibition<ref name="Tate: Flatford Mill">[https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/constable-flatford-mill-scene-on-a-navigable-river-n01273 Tate: Flatford Mill]</ref>}}

The picture was ''[[Flatford Mill (Scene on a Navigable River)]]''. It was the largest canvas of a working scene on the River Stour that he had worked on to date and the largest he would ever complete largely outdoors.<ref name="nga.gov">[https://www.nga.gov/features/slideshows/constable-great-landscapes.html#slide_1 National Gallery of Art: Constable's Great Landscapes]</ref> Constable was determined to paint on a larger scale, his objective not only to attract more attention at the Royal Academy exhibitions but also, it seems, to project his ideas about landscape on a scale more in keeping with the achievements of the classical landscape painters he so admired.<ref>[https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/constable-great-landscapes Tate: Constable: The Great Landscapes]</ref> Although Flatford Mill failed to find a buyer when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1817,<ref name="Tate: Flatford Mill"/> its fine and intricate execution drew much praise, encouraging Constable to move on to the even larger canvases that were to follow.<ref name="nga.gov"/>