In all the recent hoo-ha about banknotes and who or what to put on them, one name has been curiously absent – that of John Constable. Born 250 years ago this year, he was the son of a prosperous Essex miller and merchant who would rise to become probably the greatest proponent of landscape painting in history. 

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Where his contemporary Turner – who got the £20 note, of course – had an expressive style that took landscapes towards ethereal impressionism, Constable took nature itself to his heart and somehow made it even better – not unlike a portrait painter flattering his subject.

If we weren’t British, we would probably have a major gallery in his name. But this giant and pioneer of landscape art is so part of our national soul that we take him for granted, just like Westminster Abbey, Hadrian’s Wall or the Houses of Parliament. 

What a joy it is then, that Constable’s 250th birthday is here because it means we can rescue him from the cultural bottom drawer and lay out the red carpet properly. Which is what they are doing in Ipswich at the Tudor Christchurch Mansion, where a new exhibition, ‘Constable: A Cast of Characters’ introduces us to the people and painters who shaped Constable’s life and progress –........

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