Mary Freer

Mary Freer from 1809, at the Yale Center for British Art, is a formal portrait commission from Constable's practice of accepting such work for financial support. The sitter is known only by name, and the portrait lacks the personal context that gives the few portraits of family and friends their special interest. Constable's formal portrait technique was solid and well-trained — he had studied portraiture at the Royal Academy Schools and was well acquainted with Reynolds's and Gainsborough's approaches — but his emotional investment in depicting individuals he did not know was limited. The contrast between the mechanical competence of the formal commission, performed dutifully but without artistic passion, and the revolutionary engagement he brought to his landscape subjects illuminates just how decisive his commitment to landscape as his true vocation was by this date. The Yale collection preserves this portrait alongside important landscape works from the same period, allowing visitors to observe the fundamental difference in Constable's creative engagement between the work he did for necessity and the work he did from conviction.

The portrait is competently executed with clear, direct lighting and careful rendering of the sitter's features, if without the passionate engagement Constable brought to his landscape work.