Analysis Of John Constable's The Hay Wain

John Constable’s The Hay Wain was produced in 1821 by way of oil on canvas during the Romantic period of the 19th century. This work being one of Constable’s most notable works. Various elements and thought processes implemented in the painting make it an accurate representation of the Picturesque Romanticism style common of this period.

The article “Constable, John” found in The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide mentions that Constable was an English landscape painter who lived during the 19th century. Art from this time period would commonly fall under the picturesque romanticism movement. According to the article “Picturesque” in the Bloomsbury Guide to Human thought, the picturesque was a concept developed

As general overview, this picture displays a rural scene on the River Stour in the English countryside. Here Constable uses dark, soft colors in order to reflect the painting’s pastoral tone. The dark green, blue and white are used to create the nature scene. He uses soft, rounded, smooth brushstrokes which help to depict the mildness of nature. The painter also utilizes broken, curves lines, and dots in the painting. The most definite lines in the painting are used to create the trunks of trees and in the houses. Constable uses very few definite shapes in this painting, though there are some circles and triangles used to makeup solid objects like the carriage and the house. The foreground of this painting shows the ground and dirt leading up to the river. On the ground next to river a dog and debris can be seen along with some patches of grass. The middle-ground of the picture shows a carriage carrying a few people in the middle of the river pointed toward the cottage on the edge of the river. Finally, the background depicts many trees by the river side leading past the back of the house on towards the left, while the right side of the painting leadoff into the rest of the countryside with more trees and clouds overhead. This arrangement clearly reflects this style of painting and the era of the

In the video produced by Smarthistory “Constable, "The Hay Wain", 1821” it is mentioned by speaker 1 that Constable was a part of the wealthier land owning class, meaning he would never have participated in the type of labor the people in the painting are doing. It is noticeable that the woman in the back washing clothes and the men leading the cart all appear to be very placid (see Fig. 2). This all leads to the idea that Constable’s featured idealization of reality in this painting includes peasants with a still and quiet working life that possibly reflects his own. This idealization of reality is true of most picturesque romantic