'The Hay Wain' by John Constable - with Andrew Marr

I thoroughly enjoyed watching Andrew Marr on "The Hay Wain" by John Constable last Friday night. This is the second episode of the second seasons of Great Paintings of the World Programme on Channel 5.

I was particularly struck at the end by the thought that this is precisely the sort of programme BBC4 should be making - rather than the BBC relegating BBC4 to becoming an archive channel!! 

It appears to me that we now need to look for quality programming about art on channels other than those 'allowed' us by the BBC.

Anyway, back to the programme......

Episode 2: The Hay Wain by John Constable

 

John Constable (1776 - 1837) believed in the importance of working from life and was dedicated to the way he wanted to paint and basing his paintings on his drawings of the landscape, skies and 'weather'.

I thought I knew quite a bit about John Constable, having seen a number of exhibitions of his work and written about him. However, I was surprised by some content included in Andrew Marr's excellent, well researched and cogent story of his life, family and development as an artist.

He came up with a number of things I either didn't know or hadn't appreciated properly before. Such as

• The site and size of his father's home in East Bergholt (the link is to Constable's painting of it - not featured in the programme)
  
• his experience of being shown at the RA Summer Exhibition - and the decision to "go bigger" to get more wall space and a better position (a sentiment not lost on many of those entering competitive exhibitions today!)
  
• His work experience prior to becoming a painter which led to him being a pre-eminent painter of weather and clouds
• the fact that he was a great success at the Paris Salon and sold many more paintings in France before he became a popular artist in the UK.
  
• His preparation for painting The Hay Wain - including the full scale study for the painting
  
• the historical socio-economic context for the 'The Hay Wain' in terms of the movement of people - from living in the country to the cities

Do watch the programme on catch up if you can. You won't regret it if you enjoy landscape painting! 

I also commend to you the National Gallery page about The Hay Wain - which allows you to see the painting full screen and also zoom in different parts of it.

The Hay Wain (1821) by John Constable (1776 - 1837)
oil on canvas, 130.2 x 185.4cm

 

Plus for those unable to view Channel 5, here's a video by the National Gallery about The Hay Wain.

 

More about John Constable

These are my blog posts 

• 'Constable, Gainsborough, Turner and the Making of Landscape' at the RA (2013) 
• Constable Portraits: The Painter and his Circle (2009) 
• BritArt in History - RA exhibits admirable collections of British drawings (2007)

Plus these blog posts from my Travels with a Sketchbook blog 

• Hampstead - Flask Walk, Burgh House and John Constable (2009) 
• Sketching Constable in the V&A (2011)

My sketch of Constable's "Boatbuilding near Flatford Mill"
11" x 16", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

 

Plus some links to works by John Constable 

Some excellent summaries can be found on

• Wikipedia - John Constable
• The Artchive - John Constable 
• The impressive exhibition of his landscapes at Tate Britain focused on the relationship between his sketching and the production of six foot canvases.
  

I highly recommend the collection of his work at the V&A

• these are links to work by John Constable in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum - and the articles about them 
• plus do take a look at the very many artworks by John Constable in the V&A Collection