Was Constable's realism criticized as being too ordinary?
Some critics found my focus on the everyday landscape, the common field and stream, to be lacking in the grandeur or historical narrative expected of high art. They perhaps saw my depictions of rural life and scenery as too simple, too devoid of idealized beauty. However, I believed that the 'sublime' was to be found not just in dramatic vistas but in the honest portrayal of the world as it is, with all its subtle movements of air, light, and water. The 'chiaroscuro' of a cloudy sky holds its own magnificence.
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