Turner and Constable were two landscape artists of genius, born within a year of each other, whom art history has been keen to see as rivals. Though they had different subject matter, backgrounds and temperaments and both have gone down as world class talents so any confected conflict is an irrelevance. Turner is best known for his skyscapes and Constable for his idyllic country scenes leading Frank Auerbach to say: “There isn’t a Turner that doesn’t somehow fly and there isn’t a Constable that doesn’t burrow.”
Turner, born 23 April 1775 1.10 am (unverified) London, was the son of a barber and for him painting “represented freedom and upward mobility”.
A Sun Taurus inconjunct Saturn in Libra, he had an Earth Grand Trine of Neptune in Virgo trine Pluto trine Jupiter in Taurus, with Pluto inconjunct Mars in Leo. He had an Aquarius Moon probably and was evidently known as a ‘bit of a card’ and a practical joker as befits his Moon and two quincunxes.
John Constable, 11 June 1776 Colchester, England, had a “comfortable, privileged” upbringing as son of a Suffolk mill owner. He was a Sun Gemini with an Aries Moon, with his Pluto trine Neptune and inconjunct Jupiter. Plus an enthusiastic Venus Mars in Gemini. He was never as rich as Turner, and had to wait till he was 52 to put “RA” after his name. Initially there was little demand for paintings of the British countryside until the French awarded him a gold medal and he became known as “the father” of French landscape painting.
Their relationship chart had a friendly composite Sun Venus conjunction in an ambitious trine to Pluto and to Neptune; with a irritable composite Saturn square Mars. Not a disaster but the circumstances of their talents and the hothouse art scene would create tensions.
In a way it is odd that Turner was attracted to the wide open skies being a Sun Taurus with an Earthy Grand Trine. While Constable with his Gemini stellium and Aries Moon was drawn to nature and the earth.
Another curious note about them is that while Turner traveled a lot through Europe, Constable never left England
Marjorie Orr: earth & infinity
Just a small ode to that vast & concise profile title, plus all your Virgo details like musky mouse photos that make me laugh out loud + + stellar sifting of All the galactic grit. Paint on, lady, w thanks for giving me something to look forward to as I sort through my own galactic dust.
Turner: by any standards an artistic genius. The development of his work during his lifetime paved the way for the great artists of the late 19th and early 20th century.
Turner’s sky and seascapes such as ‘The Fighting Temeraire’ were a huge influence on the French Impressionist movement due to the way Turner approaches the fleeting nature of light and colour. Claude Monet studied his techniques and his painting, ‘Impression, Sunrise’ 1872-7 gave the Impressionists their name.
I think if art can be seen in a chart ( certainly up for conversation) the art of Turner can be seen in his Square between his Mars in Fire Leo and his Uranus in air Gemini. Because Turner’s “skys” were marked by fire and instability full of dynamism and activity.
I am rather sceptical about the Earth/Sky distinction between the two artists as Constable was probably one of the greatest painter of clouds who has ever lived. He also did quite a few seascapes as well as landscapes. He has 5 planets in air signs plus the NN which would fit in with his ability to capture a sky. I think Auerbach needs to go back and look at Constable’s paintings again. It is a lot more than just the Hayward and Flatford Mill
Wretched productive text. That should be the Haywain
LOL, good that I’m not the only one (and it should have read “predictive”, I suppose). Although I don’t use that, I just sometimes use shortcut gestures when typing, it sometimes makes me seriously wonder how exactly is it that I ended up writing what I just wrote.
A quick check shows that between 1821 and 1822 Constable produced no less than 50 paintings that are solely devoted to depicting the clouds over Hampstead. Constable described the sky in his landscape painting as ‘the keynote… the chief organ of sentiment’.
But maybe it’s not all about what you intended, but what people perceive(d).