Hadleigh Castle
John Constable
1828 to 1829
Constable first encountered the landscape at Hadleigh, with its medieval tower, in 1814 and was struck by the bleak expanse of the Thames Estuary as it widens to the sea. Returning to his sketch more than a decade later, Constable reimagined the landscape around the ruined castle. In this study, he applied the paint so thickly that its surface is almost sculptural. This version shows a shepherd driving his flock through the dramatic scene, but in the final composition,he wanders through the ruin alone.
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven · Image: Yale Center for British Art, Public domain · Text: Yale Center for British Art, CC0