Thank you Foyles for putting this book on a table on the ground floor of Charing Cross Road, without your choice to I never would have found it. This is a beautiful book in every way: the quality of writing is beautiful; the paper choice is excellent; the reproductions of art and sketches bring the subject to life and the story of the life of John Constable unfolds in a dynamic and interesting way. I loved it. You should read it if you like art and read it if you don’t, you never know, it might inspire you to visit a gallery

Susan Owens manages to make facts and figures and rigorous academic studies come alive in this wonderful look at Constable. Owens gives us the context for the drawings - she grounds thwm in the seasons and also what’s happening in the world. An example would be the effects of the volcanic eruption in 1816 - a year without summer - we get to know what Constable is up to but also we are reminded that due to the incessant rain in Italy - Mary Shelley is writing Frankenstein. Loved it

As a graduate and landscape painter myself i have read many art biographies, including Constable in Love. All are worthy reading. However this refreshed study of Constable’s year in weather format brings a new modern perspective. Rather shorter and more focused than longer biographies it is quicker to dive into and extract the emotional intensity of Constables art. Unlike Turner we have the benefit of knowing rather more about his character and feelings. Alongside there are new images of the drawings which I have never seen before, however some of the oils I have seen in earlier publications. The oblong format suggests it is more for reading than visual reference and certainly timely given the Tate exhibition. Thank you Thames and Hudson for sending me a copy I now need to re read it to check anything I have missed! I would urge any art writers to dig out more images of unseen work that is hidden away in the archives and private collections.