John Constable, mourning his wife Maria, who…

John Constable, mourning his wife Maria, who had died of tuberculosis the previous November, completes his gloomy painting of “Hadleigh Castle”, finding little consolation in the Royal Academy’s finally admitting him to full membership in February 1829 at the age of 52.

Although Constable is greatly admired in France, the Academy had long considered landscape painting a minor genre.

Intensely saddened by his loss, Constable will hereafter dress always in black, and will care for his seven children alone for the rest of his life.

Shortly before her death, Maria's father had died leaving her twenty thousand pounds.

Constable has speculated disastrously with this money, paying for the engraving of several mezzotints of some of his landscapes ready for a publication.

Hesitant and indecisive, he nearly falls out with his engraver, and even when the folios are published, Constable cannot interest enough subscribers.