20
November 2025

Method or Madness? John Constable's Painting Techniques

Welcome to The Arts Society Taunton
Thursday, November 20, 2025 - 10:00 to 15:00
Cheddon Fitzpaine Memorial Hall Taunton TA2 8JY
Online Event

People think they know Constable through images on chocolate boxes but often they don't really understand his most familiar works.

Painting conservator and technical art historian Sarah Cove is on a mission to open the eyes of the public to Constable as the 'Jackson Pollack of the 1830s'.  Through publications, lectures and TV appearances she has demonstrated just how radical his extraordinary technique for for its time.  Sarah has cleaned Constable's Treslove portraits and will reveal the story of excessive wealth, vanity, fashion and politics behind them.

Sarah Cove
Sarah Cove ACR, FIIC, FBAPCR is an Accredited paintings conservator-restorer, technical art historian and lecturer with almost 40 years’ experience working on paintings for the heritage and private sectors. She lives and works in Falmouth, Cornwall, but also has a permanent base in London. As a conservator, she specialises in British portraiture, 19th-20th century British landscapes and oil sketches on paper and board. Alongside her conservation practice, in 1986 Sarah founded the Constable Research Project and she is now the leading authority on Constable’s oil painting materials and techniques.