The Hay-Wain, by John Constable

One of the best-known paintings of the English countryside

John Constable’s paintings of the English landscape, particularly those of his native Suffolk, are so evocative that many visitors to England expect to see nothing but a series of Constable canvases through their car windows. Needless to say, they are often disappointed. However, there are instances when they are not, and it is quite possible to stand today in some of the places where Constable stood 200 years ago and see at least something of what he would have seen. The Hay-Wain is a case in point.

John Constable (1776–1837) was the son of a watermill owner, farmer and corn merchant, and many of his landscapes are of the places he knew from childhood. In his own words: “I associate my careless boyhood with all that lies on the banks of the Stour. Those scenes made me a painter”. He stated that he would always “paint his own places best”, because he could put his true feelings into his work, as well as his love for “the sound of water escaping from mill dams” and the trees and buildings that were part of his very being.