Stratford Mill
ArtistJohn Constable
Year1820
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions127 cm × 182.9 cm (50 in × 72.0 in)
LocationNational Gallery, London

Stratford Mill is an 1820 oil on canvas painting by the British landscape artist John Constable. It is the second painting in the series of six-footers depicting working scenes on the River Stour, a series that includes The Hay Wain.[1] The painting is now in the collection of the National Gallery in London.[1]

Description

The scene is Stratford St. Mary about two miles west of East Bergholt.[2] Stratford Mill was a water-powered paper mill, located on a small island just outside the village,[1] it can be seen on the far left of the picture. Constable made a sketch of children fishing by the mill in 1811 now known as Anglers at Stratford Mill (private collection),[1] but this view extends to display more of the river, a barge and the meadow across the way.

History

After the success of his first 'six-footer' The White Horse, Constable abandoned plans to paint his large canvas The Opening of Waterloo Bridge seen from Whitehall Stairs, 18 June 1817, in favour of submitting a second Stour series painting.[3] Stratford Mill was exhibited at the Royal Academy exhibition in 1820 and was a success. The Examiner described it as having ‘a more exact look of nature than any picture we have ever seen by an Englishman’.[4] It acquired a buyer in the loyal John Fisher,[5] who purchased the painting for 100 Guineas, a price he himself thought too low.[6] He gifted the painting to his solicitor and friend John Pern Tinney.[7] Tinney loved the painting and offered Constable another 100 Guineas to paint a companion picture, Constable declined.[8] In the years to follow Tinney would have to put up with numerous requests from Constable to borrow back his prized possession for rework and exhibitions.[1] After Tinney's death David Lucas produced a mezzotint, which was published in 1840 under the name ‘The Young Waltonians’ in reference to the Izaak Walton book, The Compleat Angler.[1]

The full size oil sketch is held by the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven.[9]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "John Constable | Stratford Mill | NG6510 | National Gallery, London". www.nationalgallery.org.uk. Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  2. ↑ Beckett 1962, p. 52
  3. ↑ Bailey 2007, p. 116
  4. ↑ Bailey 2007, p. 116
  5. ↑ Johnson 1991, p. 614
  6. ↑ Leslie 1845, p. 83
  7. ↑ Bailey 2007, p. 116
  8. ↑ Bailey 2007, p. 116
  9. ↑ "Stratford Mill - YCBA Collections Search". collections.britishart.yale.edu. Retrieved 28 November 2023.

Bibliography

  • Bailey, Anthony (2007), John Constable: A Kingdom of His Own, London: Vintage, ISBN 978-1-84413-833-3
  • Beckett, R.B. (1962), John Constable's Correspondence VI: The Fishers, Woodbridge: Boydell & Brewer Ltd, ISBN 978-0-90071-609-6
  • Johnson, Paul (1991), The Birth of the Modern: World Society 1815-1830, University of Michigan: HarperCollins, ISBN 978-0-06016-574-1
  • Leslie, Charles Robert (1845), Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, Esq., R.A.: Composed Chiefly of His Letters, London: Longman, Brown, Green and Longmans
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