His object was no longer that of the
earlier painters, who--and along with others even faithful Crome--had
aimed to paint a "view" for its topographical value, suppressing
or altering, like mediocre portrait painters, any feature which was
thought to be displeasing. Constable painted the moods of nature; the
simplest subjects seen under ever-varying effects of light were his
choice; and though his pictures bear the names of various places, and
divers existing features of these places are portrayed, it is always
the beauty of the scene, or that of the moment of the day or night,
which affects the spectator.
[Illustration: THE HAY-WAIN. FROM A PAINTING BY JOHN CONSTABLE, NOW IN
THE NATIONAL GALLERY, LONDON.
This picture was first exhibited in the Royal Academy of 1821. It
is also one of three exhibited by Constable in the Paris Salon the
following year. It is one of Constable's best known pictures. The
thoroughly English character of the scene, painted with truth and
simplicity, makes it, after a lapse of seventy-five years, as modern
as though it were painted yesterday.
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