John Constable (1776–1837) was an English Romantic painter known mainly for his landscape paintings. Most of his landscapes have become famous, and he is widely regarded as the best British landscape painter ever.
Although many of his landscapes are famous, his personal favorite was “The White Horse,” but art lovers and historians regard “The Hay Wain” as his most famous painting. Art critics also regard it as one of the most popular English paintings.
This article will look in more detail at 5 of his famous landscapes, including “The Hay Wain” and “The White Horse.”
The Hay Wain (1821), John Constable’s Most Famous Painting
“The Hay Wain,” originally titled “Landscape: Noon,” was finished by John Constable in 1821. It is made on canvas and depicts a rural scene on the River Stour. In the center of the painting, three horses pull a wood wain or large farm wagon across the river. Willy Lott’s Cottage, which is also the subject of another painting by the painter John Constable, is visible on the far left.
Currently, the painting hangs in the National Gallery in London. “The Hay Wain” is regarded as the most famous of John Constable’s paintings. Art critics agree that it is also one of the most excellent and most popular English paintings.
“The Hay Wain” is one of the famous series of artworks by Constable called the “Six-footers” because of their large-scale canvasses. Constable also produced a full-scale oil sketch for the work, currently in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
A View on the Stour near Dedham (1822)
With a canvas of 51 x 74 inches, “A View on the Stour near Dedham” forms part of the so-called “Six-footers” series. It is one of John Constable’s paintings with quite a lot of detail in the picture. It depicts the river, which fills three-quarters of the foreground. It flows under a wooden footbridge, and then winds left and away. On the footbridge, a woman stands holding a baby.
A group of oak and ash trees and a white horse with a red collar can be seen on the far bank. In the water, two large barges are depicted. In the one barge, a man with a red cap and a white shirt pushes on a pole while an older man wearing a red cap steers. On the other barge, a boy is busy weighing anchor, and another boy pushes with his feet against the other barge while a man poles off.
Another barge with a dropped brown sail is reflecting in the water, and on the far side, a man smokes a pipe. A landing stage in addition to a moored boat with one oar can be seen in the right foreground. On the right of the picture, the gable of a cottage is visible.
In the center distance, Constable the artist depicts a flat, wooded landscape with houses and the Dedham church. The blue sky has light cumulus clouds in the lower half while swallows skim the water.
Cottage in a Cornfield (1833)
As you learn more about painter John Constable, you understand why art historians and critics put him amongst the most inventive artists of his decade. He followed the styles of previous painters but also expanded upon the creative possibilities of landscape painting.
“Cottage in a Cornfield” is an excellent example of John Constable’s paintings where he created world-famous landscapes. Painter John Constable started “Cottage in a Cornfield” around 1817, but he finished it only in 1833. The picture was exhibited in 1833 at the Royal Academy show, and currently, it belongs to the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Constable artist has a melancholy feeling in many of his later creations because of his wife’s passing in 1828. But because “Cottage in a Cornfield” began during the previous decade, it features the early Constable who specialized in depicting sunny afternoons in Suffolk County.
“Cottage in a Cornfield” is an oil painting created with the palette that Constable had established. Constable used an abundant variety of greens, which allowed him to explore the effects of sunlight. Apart from the depicted house and flowers, he also included a donkey resting in the shade.
Cloud Study (1821)
When you learn about painter John Constable, you discover that he had an excellent understanding of the movement and structure of clouds. Most of his oil studies of skies give a good impression of their three-dimensional volume.
His studies of skies vary in size. This “Cloud Study” was created in 1821 and is one of only four examples he painted in a larger format. In the more extensive studies, Constable artist found it challenging to balance the speed of execution with the crispness of detail.
Thus, his more extensive cloud studies, like this “Cloud Study,” created in 1821, tend to be more generalized. The inscriptions on the back of this painting read: “11 o’clock” and “Noon.” According to art scholars, these inscriptions mean that this study took him about an hour to paint.
The White Horse (1819)
“The White Horse” is an incredible oil on canvas landscape artwork completed by John Constable in 1819. Currently, it forms part of the Frick Collection in New York City.
This was the first “Six-footer” painting and marked a turning point in the artist’s career. It depicts a scene where a tow horse is being ferried across the river in Flatford. The scene is set just below the Lock, at a point where the towpath switches banks.
The masterpiece was well received at the Royal Exhibition in 1819. As a result of the success of selling this artwork, as it was purchased for 100 guineas by Constable’s friend John Fisher, and this provided Constable with financial security. Some art historians think that if “The White Horse” was not so well-received and ultimately sold, Constable most probably would have given up painting.
