| Artist | John Constable |
|---|---|
| Year | 1821 |
| Type | 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. The painting depicts a rural scene on the River Stour in Suffolk. It hangs in the National Gallery London, and is regarded as one of the greatest British paintings.[1]
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The Hay Wain is painted in oil on canvas. It depicts, as its central feature a horse pulling a hay wain or large farm cart across a river. The scene is set near a cottage, known by name in another Constable painting as Willy Lott's Cottage. It is located near Flatford Mill on the River Stour in Suffolk, though because the Stour forms the border of two counties, the left bank is in Suffolk and the landscape on the right bank is in Essex.
Flatford Mill was owned by Constable's father. The house on the left side of the painting belonged to a neighbour, 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. The water level is higher, as that area of East Anglia has sunk relative to sea level by one foot (30 cm) since Constable's time.
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 were 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.
Sold at the exhibition with three other Constable's to dealer John Arrowsmith, it was returned to England by dealer D.T White, who sold it to a Mr. Young who resided in Ryde, Isle of Wight. It was there that it came to the attention of collector Henry Vaughan and C.R Leslie RA.[2] On the death of his friend Mr Young, Vaughan bought the painting from the estate, and in 1886 presented it to the National Gallery in London, where it still hangs today.[3] The full scale palette-knife sketch which pre-dates it is property of the Victoria and Albert Museum,[4] bequeathed by Vaughan in his will.[5]
The painting was voted the second best painting in any British gallery in a 2005 poll organised by the Today programme in September 2005.[1]