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Wivenhoe Park, Essex,
1816
oil on canvas, 56 x 101 cm
This picture, exhibited at Britain's Royal Academy in 1817,
demonstrates Constable's wish to be "a natural painter"
because it was created almost entirely out-of-doors. During August
and September 1816, the artist documented this country estate of
old family friends and recorded his progress in letters to his
fiancée. (The commission financed their wedding.)
Centered in the panoramic design, the red brick manor house
stands out by reason of its warm colour in an otherwise cool scheme
of blues, greens, and grays. Constable wrote about the "great
difficulty" of incorporating the thatch-roofed deer barn. To
add this requested motif, he cleverly sewed about an inch of extra
fabric to the canvas at the far right. Then, in order to restore
the composition's symmetrical balance, he stitched a similar strip
to the left side, where he showed the owners' daughter, Mary Rebow,
driving a donkey cart. This view is still recognizable today.
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