British art in the early nineteenth century was dominated by these two artists. Both men challenged convention, were notoriously ‘difficult’, and were the forerunners of modernism in British art.

British art in the early 19th Century was dominated by two singular visionaries, John Constable and JMW Turner, both men challenged convention, both were notoriously ‘difficult’ and both men were to herald changes in British art which ultimately gave rise to modernism.

Today however their work is often considered ‘establishment art’, conventional and indeed in terms of Constable’s paintings the quintessence of pastoral English bucolic. This myopic view fails to appreciate the truly ground breaking and unconventional approaches that both men adopted, approaches which were often fuelled by a fierce, often bitter rivalry, which saw both men pitted against the academic establishment, critics and each other as they sought to secure the status of preeminent painter of their day.