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Why did Maria Bicknellās family oppose her relationship with John Constable?
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John Constable
Self-portrait by John Constable, detail of a drawing in pencil and watercolour, c. 1804; in the National Portrait Gallery, London.
Maria Bicknellās family opposed her relationship with John Constable primarily because he was a struggling artist at the time. Due to his lack of financial stability, her family pressured her to end the courtship, forcing the couple to conduct their relationship in secret for several years.1
It was only after Constable received an inheritance following his fatherās death in 1816 that he achieved the financial independence necessary to marry Maria.1