Flatford Mill from a lock on the Stour
The picture depicts Flatford Mill which belonged to John Constable's father, Golding Constable.
Details
This painting and another of the same year ‘Flatford Mill from the Lock’ are believed to be studies in preparation for a piece exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1812 ‘Flatford Mill from the Lock’ (private Collection), where Constable deleted the figure on the left, a man opening the lock gates.
On 12th November 1811, Constable told Maria what he had painted that summer.
‘I have tried Flatford Mill again – from the lock – and some smaller things – one of them (a view to Mrs Roberts Lawn – by the Summers evening’ has been quite a pet to me.
Donated to the V&A by Isabel Constable, daughter of the artist in 1888
*Isabel Constable was the last surviving daughter of the painter and gave the contents of her father’s studio to the Victoria & Albert Museum, making them the principal collector of Constable's work which included 395 oil paintings, sketches, drawings, watercolours and sketchbooks.