Artwork · 19th century · John Constable

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Mrs. James Pulham Sr. (Frances Amys, ca. 1766–1856)

John Constable1818Oil on canvas75.6 × 62.9 cm

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At a glance

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A half-length portrait of a middle-aged woman in a black feathered hat with a checked band, a black dress, and a tall silver-gray collar.
John Constable, the English painter best known for his landscapes, painted it in 1818.
The sitter, Frances Pulham, painted portraits herself as an amateur, so this is one painter's view of another.

Reading the picture

5 places to look closer

Tap a number on the painting to jump to its note, or a close-up to see that spot in the whole picture.

Zoom in on the front of the hat. A band of black and gray checks runs around it, topped by a big silvery bow. The shine on the bow comes from a few quick strokes of pale paint. Behind it, black plumes spill out and dissolve into the dark background.
Move down to her face. Her cheeks are flushed pink, and each eye holds a tiny dot of white for a highlight. She does not look at us; her gaze slides off past the left edge of the canvas. Fine age cracks in the paint run across her skin like a spider's web.
Look at the ear on the right. A dark earring hangs from the lobe, and below it a black ribbon circles her neck and trails down. Two or three flecks of white on the earring are enough to make the jewel catch the light.
Now the collar. Inside the stiff, silver-gray collar, a sheer white fabric folds softly down over her chest. Constable brushed it on thinly, so the warm tone of her skin shows through.
Finish on the puffed sleeve at the left. It is built from just a handful of broad, fast strokes. Careful face, loose clothes: that contrast gives the whole portrait its rhythm.

When it was painted

In 1818 Constable turned forty-two. He lived in London and kept painting the rivers and fields of his native Suffolk, but he was still waiting for recognition. He would not be elected an associate of the Royal Academy until the following year, 1819.

Two years earlier, his life had changed. Constable had loved Maria Bicknell for years, but her family opposed the match with a painter of uncertain income. When his father died in 1816, the inheritance finally made marriage possible, and the couple wed that autumn. Their first son, John Charles, was born in December 1817.

His landscapes did not sell well. Portraits were a minor part of Constable's work, but one that paid. For a new husband and father, that mattered.

The sitter was born Frances Amys. Her husband, James Pulham, was an attorney in Woodbridge, a small town in Suffolk. She painted portraits herself as an amateur.

On April 30, 1818, her husband wrote to Constable to thank him for the portrait, which he described as a generous compliment to his wife. The painting later crossed the Atlantic, and in 1906 the collector George A. Hearn gave it to the Metropolitan Museum.

Look at her eyes once more. Her gaze rests quietly somewhere beyond the frame. She, too, knew what it was to study a face for a long time and try to get it down in paint.

The painter

John Constable

1776–1837

When painting this, the artist was about 42 years old

All paintings by John Constable →

More by the same painter

Stoke-by-Nayland1836

Questions to think about

Look for itHow many places can you find on the hat and dress where a quick stroke of pale paint makes something shine?
Why?Why do you think Constable painted the face so carefully but finished the sleeves with a few rough strokes?
What about you?Constable took on portraits because his landscapes did not pay. When the work we love and the work that pays the bills are different, how do we keep a balance between them?

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