The Hay Wain

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The Hay Wain: John Constable

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John Constable Oil Painting - The Hay Wain

Keywords: Hay, Wain

Work Overview: The Hay Wain
Artist John Constable
Year 1821
Medium Oil on canvas
Dimensions 130 cm × 185 cm (51.2 in × 72.8 in)
Location National Gallery, London

The Hay Wain is a painting by John Constable, finished in 1821, which depicts a rural scene on the River Stour between the English counties of Suffolk and Essex. It hangs in the National Gallery in London and is regarded as "Constable's most famous image"[1] and one of the greatest and most popular English paintings.[2]

Painted in oils on canvas, the work depicts as its central feature three horses pulling what in fact appears to be a wood wain or large farm cart across the river. Willy Lott's Cottage, also the subject of an eponymous painting by Constable, is visible on the far left. The scene takes place near Flatford Mill in Suffolk, though since the Stour forms the border of two counties, the left bank is in Suffolk and the landscape on the right bank is in Essex.

The Hay Wain is one of a series of paintings by Constable called the "six-footers", large-scale canvasses which he painted for the annual summer exhibitions at the Royal Academy. As with all of the paintings in this series Constable produced a full-scale oil sketch for the work; this is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Constable originally exhibited the finished work with the title Landscape: Noon, suggesting that he envisaged it as belonging to the classical landscape tradition of representing the cycles of nature.

Flatford Mill was owned by Constable's father. The house on the left side of the painting belonged to a neighbor, Willy Lott, a tenant farmer, who was said to have been born in the house and never to have left it for more than four days in his lifetime. Willy Lott's Cottage has survived to this day practically unaltered, but none of the trees in the painting exist today.

Although The Hay Wain is revered today as one of the greatest British paintings, when it was originally exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1821 (under the title Landscape: Noon), it failed to find a buyer.

It was considerably better received in France where it was praised by Théodore Géricault. The painting caused a sensation when it was exhibited with other works by Constable at the 1824 Paris Salon (it has been suggested that the inclusion of Constable's paintings in the exhibition was a tribute to Géricault, who died early that year). In that exhibition, The Hay Wain was singled out for a gold medal awarded by Charles X of France, a cast of which is incorporated into the picture's frame. The works by Constable in the exhibition inspired a new generation of French painters, including Eugène Delacroix.[citation needed]

Sold at the exhibition with three other Constables to the dealer John Arrowsmith, The Hay Wain was brought back to England by another dealer, D. T. White; he sold it to a Mr. Young who resided in Ryde on the Isle of Wight. It was there that the painting came to the attention of the collector Henry Vaughan and the painter Charles Robert Leslie.[3] On the death of his friend Mr. Young, Vaughan bought the painting from the former's estate; in 1886 he presented it to the National Gallery in London, where it still hangs today.[4] In his will Vaughan bequeathed the full-scale oil sketch for The Hay Wain, made with a palette knife, to the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum).[5]

The Hay Wain was voted the second most popular painting in any British gallery, second only to Turner's Fighting Temeraire, in a 2005 poll organised by BBC Radio 4's Today programme.[2] On 28 June 2013 a protester, reported to be connected with Fathers 4 Justice, glued a photograph of a young boy to the painting while it was on display at the National Gallery. The work was not permanently damaged.[6]

It has been suggested that the reason for the wagon stopping at the ford was to allow the river water to cool the horses' legs and to soak the wheels. In hot dry weather, the wooden wheels would shrink away from their metal rims. Wetting the wheels reduced the shrinkage and kept the outer metal band in place.

Constable's painting is based on a site in Suffolk, near Flatford on the River Stour. The hay wain, a type of horse-drawn cart, stands in the water in the foreground. Across the meadow in the distance on the right, is a group of haymakers at work. The cottage shown on the left was rented by a farmer called Willy Lott and stands behind Flatford Mill. Today, the cottage and river path are still much as they were in Constable's time.

Although the painting evokes a Suffolk scene, it was created in the artist's studio in London. Constable first made a number of open-air sketches of parts of the scene. He then made a full-size preparatory sketch in oil to establish the composition.

The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1821, the year it was painted, but failed to find a buyer. Yet when exhibited in France, with other paintings by Constable, the artist was awarded a Gold Medal by Charles X.

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In The Hay Wain John Constable chose to paint a rural landscape which runs into the distance in sun-drenched meadows, offset by the cool waters of the pool in the foreground. The theme of this painting is very much rural life and the beauty of the landscape which the artist loved so much.

The Hay Wain is based on a site near Flatford on the river Stour, in Suffolk, England. The hay wain itself is a type of horse-drawn cart which would have been a common piece of agricultural equipment used during the artist's youth.

The cottage in the left of the image was rented by a farmer and stands behind Flatford Mill, owned by Constable's father. Across the meadow in the distance on the right, a group of haymakers can be seen working.

The farm workers are hard at work but seem contended and are surrounded by beautiful scenery. All of these aspects illustrate Constable's idyllic view of his home county of Suffolk.

Industrial Revolution:
However idyllic Constable's view of rural England was throughout his career it's unlikely that there was as much calm and happiness in the countryside during this period. Due to the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, many rural people found themselves out of jobs as farming work became more industrialized and machines reduced the man power 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.

It may be that Constable did not paint images of these problems because he did not want to draw attention away from the natural landscape itself. In The Hay Wain the workers happily fit in with nature and live in harmony with the area.

On the other hand the admission of the true relationship farm workers had with the land could have been because the industrial revolution simply didn't affect Constable; he came from a wealthy family and the revolution only served to make the rich richer.

Through family friends and business associates Constable was exposed to what was considered the best art of his day and this led to him developing his own painting style which is illustrated in The Hay Wain.

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Composition:
Unlike the symmetrical and classical landscapes of Claude Lorrain, widely considered to be the pinnacle of landscape painting even up to Constable's day, The Hay Wain is portrayed as a real scene and therefore symmetry is not as important as realism in the piece.

Instead Constable sketched what he saw and ultimately what he knew well, having lived near this farm as a boy.

Technique:
Complete and perfect beauty- something that could only be created in a mythical or biblical world - was popular during Constable's time. The artist painted nature as it was, and his work was a breath of fresh air in an art world full of over-dramatic and stylized landscapes.

Color palette:
In keeping with the artist's love of nature, natural tones are predominant in The Hay wain and there is contrast between the pool of water, the tall delicate trees and the strong brick house to the left.

The different tones all complement each other and are repeated to add harmony to this piece: the blue of the pool is reflected in the sky and the red of the house is highlighted subtly in the trees and in the harness of the horse.

The trees and grass encircle the whole composition with relief from the yellow meadows disappearing to the right which help to stop the painting from seeming closed in or too claustrophobic.

Use of light:
The Hay Wain represents a near-perfect English summer day and Constable accomplishes this by using natural light and painting realistically from his sketches of the scene. As a young boy Constable often went out "skying", sketching the clouds and sky to perfect his technique.

One of Constable's most innovative techniques was to create light on water by using white paint as a highlight. This technique can be seen in The Hay Wain as the water from the stream in the foreground is disturbed by the wheels of the hay wain itself.

Method:
Although Constable is famous for being one of the first landscape painters to create canvases purely based on nature, he did not paint The Hay Wain on site. Instead he created several sketches in the summer of 1821 and produced the finished oil version in his London studio in the winter of the same year.

This technique was commonly used by Constable and of course it helped that he knew the landscapes he was painting very well, having spent his childhood in the same area, and he often added details from memory.

Constable's work was not very well received by his contemporaries in Britain, who believed that the ideal landscape should mirror those of Claude Lorrain. Also, they didn't appreciate Constable's innovative used of the "impasto" technique.

The artist's success on continental Europe however established his reputation and allowed him to finally make money from his art.

Contemporary reception:
England:
Constable first exhibited The Hay Wain in 1823 at the Royal Academy in London. The painting was not well received and did not find a buyer during the exhibition but this is typical of Constable's work during the 19th century in a country which did not appreciate his new style of painting or the subjects he chose.

France:
After the Royal Academy exhibition Constable sent this painting to France, where he was asked to exhibit a number of pieces at the Paris Salon in 1824. The Hay Wain proved to be a great success and inspired local artists such as Delacroix and Corot.

In fact it was such a success that Charles X saw fit to award it the Gold Medal of the exhibition. Constable's work would go on to influence Impressionist artists almost 50 years later in the same city.

Modern reception:
Today The Hay Wain is considered to be one of Constable's best known and most skilled works. It is currently owned by The National Gallery in London and has featured in a number of exhibitions across the country.

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Originally exhibited under the title 'Landscape: Noon', the finished painting was referred to by Constable's friend Archdeacon Fisher as 'The Haywain' as early as February 1821, and this soon became its popular name. A rustic scene of great calm, it shows a harvest wagon crossing a shallow stream near Flatford Mill; on the left is Willy Lott's cottage, which belonged to Constable's father and in the sight of which he himself had grown up.

It is fortunate that several preliminary studies for this composition have survived, for they enable us to obtain an insight into the artist's method of work. To begin with, there are the sketches from nature made in his early years, upon which Constable drew throughout his career. For example, there is a small oil sketch of Willy Lott's cottage in the Museum which has been dated about 1810-15. As was his practice with oil sketches of this period, he blocked in the main features in broad masses of strong, bright colours, giving the work a rough texture and a surprisingly modern appearance.

Years later, he made use of such early sketches when he was devising the composition of 'The Hay Wain' - even the dog has been retained in the final version. At this stage he made the small oil sketch for the whole composition in the Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection. Constable now faced the problem of converting these small, broadly executed oil sketches into carefully composed 'six foot canvases'.

John Constable, A Study for 'The Leaping Horse' (detail), 1824-25. Museum no. 986-1900
John Constable, A Study for 'The Leaping Horse' (detail), 1824-25. Museum no. 986-1900
It was at this point that he produced the large sketch, a full scale treatment of the subject but with the details only roughly indicated, the background merely blocked in and the predominant tone provided by the light brown canvas on which it is painted. By contrast, the full scale sketch of 'The Leaping Horse' is much more finished in both colour and detail. 'The Haywain' sketch really is an intermediary stage between the small sketch at Yale and the final version.

The finished picture in the National Gallery differs hardly at all in composition - only the figure on horseback in the foreground has disappeared - but it does show a more detailed treatment of the landscape, with firmer contours and more naturalistic colouring. It is by far the better known of the two, yet in some ways 'it is the sketch, with its rapid brush strokes, its flecks of white and green skimming the surface, and its generally broader treatment that accords more with modern taste.

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This gorgeous painting is probably John Constable's most famous work. It won a gold medal at the Paris Salon of 1824, and has been repeatedly reproduced and studied. Yet it is difficult to explain why it is so wonderful. The subject matter is mundane. A wagon filled with hay pauses while fording a stream so that the horses can drink. A dog runs along the bank barking at a child in the wagon, and on the bank outside the house, a woman is washing clothes. None of these activities are worthy of a second glance.

Yet look at how Constable has framed the picture -- the splashes of color turning the leaves bright gold in the arch in the middle of the picture -- the sun dancing on the fields -- the clouds bunching overhead -- and the peaceful little river all aglow with ripples and colors and splatches of light. The scene is a miracle! And Constable was clearly in love with every inch. He once wrote: "The sound of water escaping from mill dams, willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts and brickwork, I love such things. These scenes made me a painter."

Yet Constable painted the entire piece in his London studio in the winter months of 1820/21. He had several preliminary oil sketches on the spot, including a full-size sketch in oil, which must have been both expensive and time consuming. After all this, it is amazing that the painting has so much the look and feel of nature.

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