Image source: Wikimedia Commons (Public domain). View source
Wivenhoe Park, Essex
John Constable · Romanticism & Landscape
- Artist
- John Constable (1776–1837)
- Date
- 1816
- Dimensions
- 56.1 x 101.2 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., United States
Wivenhoe Park shows the grounds of a country estate in Essex on a bright summer day: a lake with swans and fishermen in a rowing boat, cows grazing on the bank, and the elegant house half hidden among trees in the distance under a sky full of white clouds.
A closer look
The painting was commissioned by General Francis Slater-Rebow, the owner of the estate and a friend of Constable's father. Constable carefully recorded the landscape as it really was, but the general wanted more of the property included, so the artist attached extra strips of canvas to the sides to widen the view. The fresh greens, the sparkling reflections on the water and the movement of the clouds show Constable's lifelong study of nature and weather. The fee he earned helped him to marry his long-time love, Maria Bicknell, that same year.
