“Painting is but another word for feeling,” the English landscape artist John Constable wrote to a friend in 1821.

In “Constable’s Year: An Artist in Changing Seasons,” art historian Susan Owens delves into the painter’s deep feelings for his native Suffolk county, which are reflected in his art. Owens’ compact, beautifully illustrated book is an illuminating introduction to a man who devoted himself to capturing the rhythms of the seasons in his beloved rural corner of England.

The publication of “Constable’s Year” coincides with the 250th anniversary of the artist’s birth, which is being celebrated with a blockbuster exhibition at the Tate Britain museum called “Turner & Constable: Rivals & Originals.” The show pairs the two landscape artists, who were born just a year apart but whose lives diverged markedly. After reading this book, you’re unlikely to confuse J.M.W.…