The view is of the millpond at Flatford on the River Stour. Flatford Mill was a watermill for grinding corn, operated by the Constable family for nearly a hundred years. It still survives and is about a mile from Constable’s birthplace at East Bergholt, Suffolk. The house on the left also survives; in Constable’s time it was occupied by tenant farmer Willy Lott.
The title, The Hay Wain, refers to the wooden wagon (wain) used for transporting cut and dried meadow grass (hay). The empty wagon is making its way through the shallow water to cross to the meadow on the other side where haymakers are at work.
Although the painting evokes a Suffolk scene, it was created in the artist’s studio in London. Working from a number of open-air sketches made over several years, Constable then made a full-size preparatory oil sketch to establish the composition before painting the final picture.
Text extracted from the ‘Provenance’ section of the catalogue entry in Judy Egerton, ‘National Gallery Catalogues: The British Paintings’, London 2000; for further information, see the full catalogue entry.
C. Baker and T. Henry, The National Gallery: Complete Illustrated Catalogue, London 2001
This English pinewood frame was made between 1831 and 1854 by the framemaker T. Fielder (the back of the frame bears the trade label, from 3 Greek Street, London). Crafted from moulded composition, the frame is oil-gilded. The centre and corner cartouches feature shell and leaf motifs, slightly protruding over the top half-round moulding. The main section of the ogee moulding is adorned with delicate C-scrolls, scrolling leaves and small flower heads, all arranged in a repeating pattern on a diaper ground. The front moulding is modern and was added when the frame was fitted with a glazing door.
By 1927 the National Gallery had acquired the gold medal awarded to Constable by the French King Charles X at the Salon of 1824, and copies of the obverse and reverse were inserted into the frame’s mouldings. These copies were later removed, and for the bicentenary celebrations of the National Gallery in 2024, two casts of the medal were reinstated.
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