The Hay Wain (1821) by John Constable

Where? National Gallery in London
When? 1821
Medium and size: Oil on canvas; 130.2 x 185.4 cm (54 1/4 x 73 in)

What do you see? We see a large painting, depicting a rural landscape that is the third of the so called, “six-footers”. It is from a series of large canvasses that John Constable painted for the annual summer exhibitions at the Royal Academy in London. (1819-1831) The original title was Landscape: Noon.

The scene portrays an area on the River Stour between the English counties of Suffolk and Essex. It is one of his most famous works and one of the most popular English paintings of all time.

​We see three horses hitched to a hay wain (cart or wagon) in the middle of a stream with two workmen in the cart, both seated, and one with his arm extended, perhaps in conversation. From the earlier title, it may be assumed they are taking their midday break, but it has also been suggested that it was a necessary stop in order to cool the wheels of the wagon. Hot weather would cause the wooden wheels to shrink while the iron rims around them would expand and cause the wheels to wobble. The cool stream solved the problem. Since the hay wain is empty, they probably would continue their journey across the river to the meadows beyond to be filled once again. To the right of the hay wain are three ducks, seemingly oblivious to the cart and the boat in the water pulled into the riverbank. There is a man with his fishing pole, partially hidden by the greenery in the bushes behind the boat. In the foreground to the left of the hay wain is a black and white dog looking towards the men, perhaps in the hopes of some scraps from their lunch. On the left-hand side is Willy Lott’s Cottage, a tenant farm-house on the Constable estate in Flatford, Suffolk, England. Willie lived in the cottage and worked on the farm his entire life, hence the name of the cottage. Magnification reveals a woman, kneeling on the dock, filling a clear jug with water from the stream (although some other sources say she is washing clothes). Constable painted this tenant cottage in several other works. 

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