Having studied Constable in art history classes during art school, I came to know and appreciate his obvious honesty, competence, and dedication in interpreting the landscape of his native Suffolk. However, his skill and candor in painting techniques and interpretation were not always appreciated in his own time, in his own country, or by many of his artistic contemporaries.

Sarah Cove's Constable: The Great Landscapes does much to redress those imbalances and adds substantially to Constable scholarship, thus encouraging much delayed and renewed gallery viewer interest in this artist's work. The juxtaposition of working sketches, studies, and drawings against the finished paintings in the book [and in the exhibit] also elaborates on the artist's methods, providing useful technical insights for aspiring artists and gallery viewers alike. While nothing quite suffices for seeing actual paintings in situ in a gallery setting, Sarah Cove's book comes as near as is possible to duplicating the "live" viewing experience, with the added benefit that the text is readily able to be re-visited, again and again, something not possible during a one-time gallery visitation.

The obvious quality of the color reproduction in this work is commendable.