Constable's English Landscape Scenery

One of the most pathetic commercial ventures in the history of art, Constable's English Landscapes was, and remains, a stunning artistic achievement. This series of mezzotints, based on the artist's own selection of what he considered his best work, is reproduced in Hill's leisurely travelogue-study. Full of serenity, the pictures reveal the painter's communion with nature and his sheer delight in such sensations as the heat of the midday sun or the surge of the sea. These landscapes seem even more remarkable in light of Constable's embittered search for fame, his wife's illness and the fact that he did many of the pictures from memory. His precise, controlled style gives way to a wild, excited rendering of the Lake District's mist-shrouded hills in works that verge on Impressionism. Hill follows the format of his In Turner's Footsteps, recreating Constable's travels, providing detailed maps and juxtaposing the illustrations with photos of the actual sites. (April 7)