I am indebted to many people. Most especially, to Anne Lyles at Tate Britain, whose great knowledge of Constable matters has been generously shared, and to the late Leslie Parris, who encouraged me to embark on this book. I gratefully acknowledge the help of Brian Allen, Sarah Barnes, Hugh Belsey, Marcus Bicknell, Heather Birchall, David Blaney Brown, the late John Constable and Freda Constable, Richard and Val Constable, Sarah Cove, Natalie Finch, Angela Green, Anne Helmreich, Tom Hodgson, Judy Ivy, Celia Jennings, the late Evelyn Joll, Susan Morris, Annabel Obholzer, Pippa Parris, Charles Rhyne, Ian St John, Frank Salmon, Norman Scarfe, Sarah Speight, Allen and Olive Synge, David Thomson, Pieter and Elizabeth van der Merwe, Barry Venning, Ian Warrell, Andrew Wilton, Joan Winterkorn, and Patricia Wright. My thanks to the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven for a visiting fellowship and the Mellon Centre for British Art in London for a grant for research expenses. At Yale, I was much assisted by Constance Clement, Jules Prown, Elisabeth Fairman, Scott Wilcox, Gillian Forrester, Susan Brady, Mary Beth Graham, Lori Misura and Denise McColgan. The Suffolk Records Society kindly gave permission for me to quote from its published volumes of Constable correspondence. The Suffolk Records Office in Ipswich gave me access to many books and documents. The staff of the London Library provided their habitual skills and patience. My thanks also to the Wellcome Library and the library of the Royal Academy. This book has come into being with the particular aid of Penelope Hoare, Katherine Fry, Poppy Hampson, Mary Gibson, Diana Phillips, Reginald Piggott and Neil Olson. Margot Bailey has once again been a presiding angel.
Constable’s spelling was idiosyncratic, his punctuation erratic; and I have not aimed at complete consistency in rendering his words. For example, phrases he emphasised in handwritten correspondence and journals were often underlined by him, while in published form emphasis was italicised.