John Constable: Sudden Death

"John Constable" by Ramsay Richard Reinagle

"On Thursday, the 30th March, I [Robert Leslie, the author] met John Constable at a General Assembly of the Academy, and as the night, though very cold, was fine, he walked a great part of the way home with me. As we proceeded along Oxford Street, he crossed over to a little beggar girl who had hurt her knee and was crying, and gave her a shilling and some kind words. Then we continued our walk. 

The whole of the next day he was busily engaged finished his picture of 'Arundel Mill and Castle.' One or two of his friends who called on him saw that he was not well, but they attributed this to confinement and anxiety with his picture, which was to go in a few days to the exhibition. In the evening he walked out for a short time on a charitable errand connected with the Artists' Benevolent Fund. He returned about nine o'clock, ate a hearty supper, and feeling chilly, had his bed warmed, a luxury he rarely indulged in. It was  his custom to read in bed. Between ten and eleven he had read himself to sleep, and his candle, as usual, was removed by a servant. Soon after this his eldest son, who had been at the theater, returned home, and while preparing for bed in the next room, his father awoke in great pain, and called to him.

So little was Constable alarmed, however, that he at first refused to send for medical assistance. He took some rhubarb and magnesia which produced sickness, and he drank copiously of warm water, which occasioned vomiting. But the pain increasing, he desired that Mr. Michele, his near neighbour, should be sent for, who very soon attended. In the meantime Constable had fainted, his son supposing he had fallen asleep. Mr. Michele instantly ordered some brandy to be brought. The servant had to run downstairs for it, and before it could be procured life was extinct within half-an-hour of the first attack of pain.

A post mortem investigation was made by Professor Partridge in the presence of Mr. George Young and Mr. Michele, but, strange to say, the extreme pain Constable had suffered could only be traced to indigestion."

(Excerpts from "Life and Letters of John Constable, R.A." by Charles Robert Leslie.)