The Hay Wain

The Hay Wain is widely considered to be one of the best landscape Romantic paintings ever created by an English artist, John Constable, in 1821, as well as one of the greatest landscape Romantic paintings ever created. In a BBC poll done in 2005, it was ranked as the second most popular image in any British gallery, after only The Fighting Temeraire.

Landscape painting was popular among Romantic English artists, the most well-known of whom being John Constable. The Hay Wain depicts a pastoral area along the River Stour in Suffolk and Essex, England. It is the area around Constable's birthplace that has become known as Constable Country and is shown in his most famous paintings.

A wooden wain, or large wagon, is hauled across the river by three horses in the center of the image. Flatford Mill, Constable's father's mill, is the setting for the action. The countryside on the left bank is from Suffolk, while the scenery on the right bank is from Essex.

Author: John Constable