Stoke-by-Nayland
1836
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
126 × 169 cm (49 5/8 × 66 1/2 in.); Framed: 169 × 213.4 cm (66 1/2 × 84 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
4758
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
“What say you to a summer morning?” John Constable wrote of this painting in a letter to a friend. Even after many years living in London, Constable continued to portray the countryside, dear to him from boyhood. Stoke-by-Nayland lies a few miles from his native village of East Bergholt in Suffolk. In this view, he divided the canvas between a brilliant, airy vista toward the hamlet on the left and a shady, tunnel-like country lane leading off to the right. Constable explained in his letter that...
About the Artist
John Constable · 1776–1837
John Constable (1776-1837) was an English landscape painter whose naturalistic depictions of the Suffolk countryside revolutionized landscape painting and established him, alongside J.M.W. Turner, as one of England's greatest artists. His work pioneered the direct observation of nature that would later influence the French Barbizon school and, ultimately, Impressionism. Born in East Bergholt, Suf...