Constable- The Hay wain Flashcards
artist
John Constable
where is it now
The National Gallery (London)
scale
4.2 x 6 ft
*Large scale: a ‘six-footer’ and landscape in format
year
1821
medium
oil on canvas
who was john constable (childhood and work)
-Constable, the son of a prosperous land-owner and miller, was born in 1776 (a year after Turner)
*Constable was born and lived in Suffolk. East Bergholt.
*He is famous for his landscapes which are mostly of the Suffolk countryside.
*Constable was part of the wealthier, land-owning class.
*Before Constable was born, his parents lived in the mill-house and afterwards the family continued to live in the Suffolk countryside. Constable drew much of his initial inspiration for scenes such as this one from memories of the childhood he had spent in the area.
success during his lifetime
*His pictures are extremely popular today but were not particularly well received in England during his lifetime. He did have considerable success in Paris.
training
largely self-taught, but when older he then began his professional career as an Associate at the Royal Academy in 1819 (he was 43 this year, when he sold his first painting)
general influences
*He was influenced by Claude Lorrain, Rubens and the landscapes of the 17th century Dutch painters, above all, Jacob Ruisdael.
what is the location in this peice
*Based on a site in Suffolk, near Flatford, which he knew well.
*It shows the River Stour - on one side was Essex, the other was Suffolk.
*The cottage (mill-house) shown on the left belonged to Constable’s father and was rented by a farmer called Willy Lott and stands behind Flatford Mill.
how is the house depicted in the painting
*Wisps of smoke curl from the chimney of the house
how do we get a sense of a harmonious domesticated atmosphere
A homely and nostalgic feel pervades the painting, explained for by the fact that his father owned the land.
*Wisps of smoke curl from the chimney of the house. There is a woman beside the house drawing water from the river. The scene is harmonious and has a domesticated atmosphere.
*Still and quiet and tone
*The whole surface is alive with incident: the smoke which curls from the chimney, the sun shining through the leaves, a fisherman emerging from the rushes. Yet everything is held in a careful and tranquil balance.
what is a hay wain and how is it depicted in this work
*A hay wain is a type of horse drawn cart. “Wain” is an old word for ‘wagon’.
*The hay wain itself is crossing the river at a ford to continue into the fields. The driver has stopped for a moment, perhaps to let the horses drink. We can see the two workers riding on the wagon.
*The time of year must be between June and August: haymaking season.
time of year
The time of year must be between June and August: haymaking season.
Constable was particularly concerned with natural weather and changing seasons/climates – it was originally titled Landscape: Noon.
constable interest in changing seasons and weather
*Constable was particularly concerned with natural weather and changing seasons/climates – it was originally titled Landscape: Noon.
*The sky commands. (Constable was criticised for the obtrusive nature of his skies in his work).
*He made many of the cloud studies for this painting on Hampstead Heath in London.
background
in the background, in the yellow and green fields dappled with sunlight, we can see workers. One of the men is sharpening his scythe.
how can we see changing seasons in this work
*The cloudy, windswept sky seems to indicate the possibility of rain and certainly evokes English summertime weather.
in the background, in the yellow and green fields dappled with sunlight,
what genre is this
Pastoral in subject matter.
relationship between man and nature
*Celebration of man and nature in harmony with each other….
-domesticated harmonious atmosphere
-industrial elements like smoke curling from chimney, man inventions like hay wain intertwine harmoniously with nature and the changing seasons
colour pallette
*A natural, earthy colour palette
*Constable has introduced a note of colour in the red fringes of the leather collars (housen) which the horses are wearing. This adds a bright touch to the centrepiece of his composition and echoes the cottage roof. It stands out against the green vegetation.
realism
*Symmetry is not as important as realism in the painting.
*Naturalism of personally observed experience
attention to minute details with fine brushstrokes e.g The wagon and tack (harness) are all specifically depicted, The trees are all identifiable by species.
techniques
*Areas of impasto capture the dewy freshness of nature.
Relatively loose brushwork.
*Constable wanted to create a range of marks, surfaces and textures to reflect the textures that he saw in nature and to add to the mood of the painting. He used a palette knife and brushes to create thick and craggy impasto, whereas in other places it is fluid and thin
*Use of white paint to suggest reflections of light upon the water.
*Pressing paint and impasto in the trees
*Scumbling technique used in the fields
*Breaking up colour to give surface sparkle and animation
composition of nature
*Composition dominated by river, trees and sky with some looming dark clouds.
*A sense of deep space created by low horizon line and expansive sky. Also created by small distant figures working in the background.
industrial revolution context AND how does he respond to it
Studying Constable is helpful in understanding the changing meaning of nature during the Industrial Revolution
(many rural people found themselves out of jobs as farming work became more industrialised and machines reduced the manpower needed to harvest and maintain crops and animals. Large areas of Britain also saw uprisings and riots amongst the rural communities that were affected by the job losses)
*Was Constable responding to the shift that the industrial revolution brought about?
As the cities and their problems grew, the urban elite began to view the countryside as ideal, not as a place wretched with poverty that thousands were fleeing for a future in the city.
*The rural landscape became a place of one’s childhood where the good air and water contrasted sharply with the perceived evils of modern urban life.
how did this painting challenge the status quo
*He is largely responsible for reviving the importance of landscape painting in the 19th century. In the 18th century hierarchy of genres, landscape was nearly the lowest type of painting, but in the first decades of the 19th century, Constable began to depict his father’s farm on oversized six-foot long canvases. These “six-footers” challenged the status quo. Landscape was presented on the same scale as history painting.
where was this painted
Interestingly the painting was created in the artist’s studio in London, unlike the later Impressionists.
process of painting
*He first made a number of open-air sketches of parts of the scene. For example, the dog and the fisherman and the boat all exist as separate sketches (executed over a period of some years).
*He then made a full-size (six-footer) preparatory sketch in oil to establish the composition. This can be found in the V&A.
how was he precise about agricultural equipment
*Constable continued to be precise about agricultural equipment. Based in London, he requested his brother to ask a friend in East Bergholt to provide an ‘outline of a scrave or harvest wagon’, which would allow him to make an accurate depiction.
reception
Contemporary English critics preferred a more traditional style of painting and a more ‘serious’ subject matter. He did not sell a painting until he was 39 but he did have considerable success in Paris.
The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1821, but failed to find a buyer. Géricault saw it at this show and loved it.
Delacroix saw it and was so struck that he repainted several of his own works
*This influence passed on to Monet, Pissarro and the Impressionists (they encountered it whilst in London during the Franco-Prussian war in the 1870s, and also through the work of Delacroix)
critical quotes
“I associate my careless voyhood tp all that lies on the banks of the stour. They made me a painter”
