_-_Mrs_James_Andrew_-_N05966_-_National_Gallery.jpg&width=1200)
Mrs James Andrew
John Constable·1818
Historical Context
This 1818 portrait of Mrs. James Andrew is a companion piece to the portrait of the Reverend Dr. James Andrew. Such paired portraits of husband and wife were conventional commissions that provided Constable with income to support his landscape painting. Constable built up his oil surfaces with broken, textured paint — including his celebrated 'snow' of white highlights applied with a palette knife — achieving a sense of natural freshness that astonished French artists at the 1824 Salon.
Technical Analysis
The portrait demonstrates Constable's straightforward approach to female portraiture, with clear lighting and careful rendering of dress and features in a conventional but competent manner.
Look Closer
- ◆Look at the sitter's face — Constable renders Mrs. James Andrew with the same direct, honest observation he gave to her husband's portrait, the two forming a matched pair.
- ◆Notice the complementary relationship to the portrait of the Reverend Dr. Andrew — the paired portraits sharing a compositional logic that places husband and wife in matching formats.
- ◆Observe Constable's portrait manner in this companion piece — the competent, professional approach of an artist fulfilling a commission, the face receiving most care while the costume is rendered efficiently.
- ◆Find the relationship between this portrait's background and its pendant — Constable typically created visual coherence between paired portraits through shared background treatment and lighting direction.
_-_Landscape%2C_516-1870.jpg&width=600)
.jpg&width=600)