Which artist painted 'The Hay Wain'?

John Constable painted The Hay Wain. Completed in 1821, the oil painting presents a rural scene on the River Stour near Flatford Mill, in the landscape along the border of Suffolk and Essex that became known as “Constable Country.”

The central wooden wagon is being drawn through shallow water, with Willy Lott’s Cottage visible on the left. Constable’s father owned Flatford Mill, so the setting was closely connected to the artist’s childhood and family life. The painting was originally exhibited at the Royal Academy under the title Landscape: Noon.

The Hay Wain was not immediately successful in England and failed to attract a buyer at its first exhibition. Its fortunes changed in France at the 1824 Paris Salon, where it received a gold medal from King Charles X and influenced painters including Eugène Delacroix. Today it hangs in London’s National Gallery and is regarded as one of the defining landscapes of British Romanticism.