John Constable: Toward a Complete Chronology. - Reed College

Introduction
This chronology attempts to establish as fully as possible the dated evidence
for Constable's life and artistic activity. It was begun nearly a decade ago as an
aid in compiling the Constable catalogue raisonné. Because the chronology has
proven so useful in my own research, I am now making it available even though
incomplete. To date, I have incorporated all dated references to Constable in
Farington's diary 1 and in Constable's extensive correspondence, discourses, and
miscellaneous documents. 2 Upon completion of the Constable catalogue
raisonné, 3 I plan to add all dated inscriptions on Constable's drawings and
paintings, with references to the appropriate catalogue entries, in order to make
this a complete chronology of every dated reference to John Constable during
his life, 11th June 1776 - 31st March 1837.
Thought of simply as an index, this serves as a chronological index to all
dated references in the eight published volumes of Constable's complete
correspondence, discourses, and other documents and to all references to
Constable in the sixteen published volumes of Farington's diary. Because the
volumes of Constable's correspondence, etc. are organized by correspondent
and only the volume of further documents and correspondence includes a
chronological index, it is excessively time-consuming to locate letters written at
a given time in Constable's life. Conversely, the published volumes of
1 For full bibliographic information, see the list of "Works Cited in Abbreviated
Form" at the end of this introduction.
2 Ibid.
3 Graham Reynolds, The Later Paintings and Drawings of John Constable, 2
vols. (London and New Haven: Yale University Press for the Paul Mellon
Centre for Studies in British Art, 1984); and The Earlier Paintings and
Drawings of John Constable, 2 vols. (London and New Haven: Yale University
Press for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, forthcoming).