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Letter from Constable to the artist Thomas Phillips, dated 2 February 1828, giving an account of himself in relation to his candidature for the Royal Academy.
 Letter

6, Well Walk Hampstead, Feb. 2 1828

My dear Sir
I cannot help writing to you to beg pardon in the first place for my (I fear) abrupt conversation with you yesterday, and to state other matters to you which relate to myself & which I trust you will not take amiss.

It seemed to me that you had not formed wholly a right impression of myself - You thought I had been successfull in publick patronage - and besides that I had not made those sacrifices to my art and to the Royal Academy that others of the associates had done. May I be allowed under your candour to say a little about myself since I have been in the Academy - during that period I have painted about ten pictures (as considerable as my limited powers


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