Anne and Mary Constable: The Artist's Sisters

Though better known as a landscape painter, Constable produced a number of portraits of family members that reveal great psychological insight. Here, the artist contrasts the personalities of his younger sister Mary and his eldest sister Ann. Mary wears a red riding hood over a delicate muslin gown. Her unfocused expression suggests she is lost in thought. Ann, a more forceful character, is dressed in a woman’s version of a masculine riding habit. With its tendrils winding between them, an ivy vine – a symbol
of friendship and fidelity – visually links the two sitters and alludes to their sisterly bond.