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Any account of St Mary's must mention its connection with the famous landscape painter. St Mary's lies in the south-west of 'Constable Country' on a ridge which features as background or viewpoint in a number of Constable's best-known works, notably the several versions of 'The Glebe Farm' and 'Dedham Vale'. Dr John Fisher, Rector 1780-1807 and subsequently Bishop of Salisbury, took a close interest in the painter from an early stage. The viewpoint for 'Dedham Vale' is a third of a mile to the east of the church on a north-facing slope, heavily wooded since Constable's time. |
The first version of 'The Glebe Farm' was painted shortly after the death of the artist's "kind mentor for twenty-five years" and depicts what Constable called "a cottage scene [Church Farm], with the Church of Langham, the poor Bishop's first living". |
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Those who wish to identify the many views of and from the neighbourhood of St Mary's Church interpreted by Constable's genius may seek help from the many books on the subject, of which the following may be found particularly useful:
| "Constable and his Country" | - Alastair Smart & Attfleld Brooks (London 1975) |
| "Victoria & Albert Museum: Catalogue of the Constable Collection" |
- Graham Reynolds (London 1960; 2nd Edn 1973) |