Written by DAVID THOMPSON with Narrator Stephen Murray
' Whatever may be thought of my art, it is my own. And I would rather possess a free-hold. though but a cottage. than live in a palace belonging to another.'
The English landscape painter John Constable was born 200 years ago. on 11 June 1776. This programme tells the story of his private and public life. of his love for his family, of his struggle to win acceptance for landscape painting as a major form of artistic expression. Constable's personality is explored through his letters and those of his wife and friends and other contemporary written sources.
With PATRICIA GALLIMORE WALTER HALL , PAUL MEIER
ELIZABETH PROUD , MALCOLM REID
ROGER SNOWDON , JAMES THOMASON Producer ALAN HAYDOCK
(Constable Observed: Friday
9.25 pm BBC2)