The Leaping Horse by John Constable (1776-1837). 1825. Oil on canvas. 1420 mm x 1873 mm. Collection and image credit: Royal Academy of Arts, object number 03/1391, given by Mrs Dawkins in 1889. Downloaded from Art UK for review purposes (see Related Material below).
Constable’s treatments are often as painterly as Turner’s, treating his surfaces as expressive rather than descriptive marks. Passages in the Leaping Horse are flat painterly signs that prefigure modernist art as surely as the explosive red in Turner’s The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Common. Unexpectedly, Whistler, Monet and Rothko suddenly seem like the descendants of Turner and Constable, and it’s sometimes difficult to view the English painters except through the lens of retrospection. — Simon Cooke
Related Material
- Constable's The White Horse
- Turner and Constable, Rivals and Originals (27 November 2025 – 12 April 2026) [Exhibition review]
Bibliography
The Leaping Horse. Art UK. Web. 11 December 2025.
Created 11 December 2025