Spotlight: View on the Stour near Dedham by John Constable

Oil painting of several boats on a river with trees and clouds in the background.

John Constable (British, 1776–1837), View on the Stour near Dedham, 1822, oil on canvas, 51 x 74 in. | The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Artwork Title: View on the Stour near Dedham

Date of creation: 1822

Creator: John Constable (1776–1837), British

Synopsis: View on the Stour near Dedham by John Constable is an oil painting on canvas. The painting depicts a river landscape with several people on boats and a bridge. Constable was from the area depicted in the painting and is best known for his landscape paintings. He created his landscapes against the backdrop of a rapidly changing world during the Industrial Revolution, which spanned from 1760 to 1840. His ability to connect nature and emotion reflects the art of the Romantic period.

About the Artist: John Constable

John Constable was born during the summer of 1776 in Suffolk, a village just above the River Stour in England. This area of England is now called Constable Country in honor of the artist and in recognition of the region that inspired his landscape paintings.

Despite living through the technical and social advancement that was so prominent during the Industrial Revolution, Constable focused on capturing pastoral landscapes and nature’s beauty. Constable’s paintings aim to engage the sensory experience. He invites us to explore the painting with our senses as we perceive a moment in time. Unlike Romanticism—a creative movement from 1790 to 1850 when intellectuals and artists emphasized the individual experience and a deep appreciation of nature—he did not portray a general mood. Constable focused on a single moment of passing clouds, rainfall, or the movement of a river.

He demonstrated an early interest in art. His talent, supportive parents, and a series of fortunate introductions with wealthy, well-connected patrons of art facilitated his admission to the Royal Academy of Arts in London in 1799.

Letters between Constable and his colleagues reveal that despite his confidence in his work, he was criticized for his naturalism and was frustrated with the expectation that he should emulate the work of others when he wanted to forge his own path. In 1802, he returned home to validate his artistic style and seek beauty as a self-proclaimed “natural painter.” Between 1805 and 1808, the Royal Academy of Arts exhibited five of his landscape paintings.

In 1822, a potential buyer was interested in purchasing the painting titled Landscape, Noon (referred to as The Hay Wain). A hay wain is a wagon that carries hay and is the type of wagon featured prominently in the artwork. Constable declined the sale. Researchers do not know why. In 1824, the same buyer tried to purchase the painting again. They eventually agreed on 250 pounds (around $34,711 today) for three paintings: The Hay Wain, View on the Stour near Dedham, and a smaller landscape. All three were displayed in France and secured Constable’s place in art history.

Local Landscape Influence

Constable painted natural landscapes he was familiar with. A possible explanation for his connection to nature was that he worked with his father, a miller who worked with both wind and water mills. A miller uses a machine, powered by a wind sail or a water wheel, to grind grain into flour. Millers need to be close observers of weather and water flow patterns to operate windmills and watermills. Weather affects how millers direct the sails of a windmill toward the wind, and water flow patterns affect how the watermills are operated. Constable learned how to operate both, and his careful attention to wind patterns and water flow is seen in the details of his landscapes.

The River Stour is featured in many of Constable’s landscapes. The river was a critical waterway for transportation and was imperative for the watermills to function. With the onset of the Industrial Revolution, however, trains replaced much of the waterway transportation.

watercolor of boat on river and cloudy sky

John Constable, (British, 1776–1837), On the Stour, n.d., watercolor, 4 5/8 x 6 1/4 in. (11.7 x 15.9 cm.). Gilbert Davis Collection. | The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Industrial Revolution and Romanticism Influence

Throughout his life, Constable experienced the rapid changes brought forth by the Industrial Revolution, which spanned from roughly 1760 to 1840. Factories, faster production, urbanization, population growth, and a faster pace of life quickly reshaped the countryside during this time.

Constable is known for combining Romanticism’s emphasis on emotion and individuality with a painting style based in naturalism, or the accurate depiction of carefully observed natural phenomena. Romanticism’s popularity parallels Constable’s success. Most of the galleries that showed his work were in cities like London or Paris, which were experiencing a period of rapid growth.

Artistic Style, Later Years, and Legacy

Constable’s most notable contribution to art is the elevation of landscape painting, which captured moments in nature. His landscapes lend themselves to exploring our own sensory experiences. He once wrote, “What I aim at in my pictures . . . is light-dews-breezes-bloom-and freshness; not one of which has yet been perfected on the canvas of any painter in the world.”

A key characteristic of his landscapes is his depiction of the sky. Constable was captivated by the often-gloomy English weather. He referred to the sky as the “chief organ of sentiment” in his paintings. He made many small oil sketches of the sky, painted at different times of day and under different weather conditions. These studies, often smaller, less detailed artworks made in preparation of final works, likely had an impact on View on the Stour Near Dedham, which captures the forceful movement of clouds across the sky as a rainstorm passes through the landscape. One viewer noted that he felt like he needed to put on a jacket to fully experience Constable’s landscapes. This comment demonstrates how Constable succeeded in evoking the experience of natural phenomena in his art. He further ties his depiction of weather to emotion by prompting the viewer to make associations. In View on the Stour near Dedham, a storm passing is associated with hopefulness, or better times, and adds to the painting’s emotional content.

John Constable, (British, 1776–1837), Cloud Study, n.d., watercolor, 4 3/8 x 6 5/8 in. (11.1 x 16.8 cm.). Gilbert Davis Collection. | The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens.

Constable saw himself as both a painter and a kind of scientist and argued that pictures of landscapes are parallel to experiments because both observe and describe the Earth. While the artist presents the description through paint, the scientist presents it through text. In 1836, he lectured, “Painting is a science, and should be pursued as inquiry into the laws of nature.” Constable’s cloud studies were his attempt at a scientific study of nature. He read the work of early meteorologists, such as Luke Howard and Thomas Forster, which informed his approach to depicting the sky.

Constable was also a prolific writer. He composed journals, diaries, lectures, and letters that provide insight into his thoughts. In his letters we can read his polarizing ideas about his audiences, whom he often referred to as ignorant and vulgar but also applauded their esteem for the arts.

Throughout his career, he was dedicated to his artistic vision. He remarked that there are two ways to get recognition: imitate others, which correlates to quick fame because people recognize qualities of work they already like, or develop a personal style, which takes more time for audiences to understand and celebrate.

Constable died in 1837. As he anticipated, his art lived on well beyond his lifetime. Numerous famous collections throughout England include Constable artwork. Over 40 works by Constable are housed at The Huntington.

Vocabulary

Industrial Revolution: The shift from an economy based in agriculture to one based in manufacturing. It began in Britain around 1760 and changed the relationship between people and nature throughout the world.
Landscape painting: The depiction of natural scenery (like mountains, bodies of water, forests, or fields) in art.
Miller: A person who works in a mill; there are varieties of mills (like wind, waterwheel, and grain) that are structures for grinding grain.
Naturalism: A creative movement from the 19th century based on the accurate depiction of life and natural phenomena.
Romanticism: A creative movement from 1790 to 1850 during which intellectuals and artists emphasized the individual experience and a deep appreciation of nature.
Study: A kind of painting that functions as a draft of a final work, where a painter focuses on developing and fine-tuning certain aspects of the final work, like color, shape, or a sitter’s likeness.
Urbanization: The process by which large groups of people concentrate in a small area, forming cities.

Questions and Prompts

How might the study of water and wind have influenced the artwork?
What impact might the Industrial Revolution have on the landscape in the painting?
Using examples from this landscape, how is the artist also observing like a scientist?
Where in this landscape can you find moments of emotion? What are the moments, and what emotions are evident?

Related Objects

Thomas Gainsborough (British, 1727–1788), The Cottage Door, ca. 1780, oil on canvas, The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens.

Cottage Door by Thomas Gainsborough

In this painting, Thomas Gainsborough depicts a woman and children near a cottage. The dark trees contrast with the bright light from the sky shining down on the woman and children. Constable spoke highly of Gainsborough’s work; he said that Gainsborough painted landscapes that were calm and gentle, while his work was often focused on depicting gloomy, rainy weather.