Flatford Mill from the Lock

c. 1810

The first in a series of studies, this work depicts the mill on the River Stour that was owned by Constable’s father. The figure of the lockkeeper leaning over the lock gate emphasizes the importance of the river as a transportation route. In the last and most finished canvas of the series, Constable reduced the prominence of the mill and replaced the lockkeeper with a fisherman, making the painting a rustic scene rather than an image of labor and commerce.

Medium	oil on beige laid (?) paper, mounted on canvas
Dimensions	7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in. (19 x 24.1 cm)
Object Number	2007.8.23
Acquisition	Gift of the Manton Art Foundation in memory of Sir Edwin and Lady Manton, 2007
Status	On View

Image Caption

John Constable, Flatford Mill from the Lock, c. 1810, oil on beige laid (?) paper, mounted on canvas. Clark Art Institute, gift of the Manton Art Foundation in memory of Sir Edwin and Lady Manton, 2007.8.23

Select Bibliography

Parris, Leslie and Ian Fleming-Williams. John Constable. Exhibition catalogue. London: Tate Publishing, 1991. Lyles, Anne, ed. Constable's Great Landscapes: The Six-Foot Paintings. Tate Britain, London, June 1-August 28, 2006; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., October 1-December 31, 2006; Huntington Art Gallery, San Marino, February 3-April 29, 2007. London: Tate Publishing. 2006. Fleming-Williams, Ian. "John Constable at Flatford." Connoisseur. 204. 07/1980:216-219. Bermingham, Ann. Landscape and Ideology: The English Rustic Tradition, 1740-1860. Berkeley: University of California Press. 1987. Reynolds, Graham. The Early Paintings and Drawings of John Constable. 2 vol. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. 1996. Clarke, Jay, ed. Landscape, Innovation, and Nostalgia: The Manton Collection of British Art. Williamstown, MA: The Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2012. Lees, Sarah, ed. Nineteenth-Century European Paintings at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute; New Haven and London: distributed by Yale University Press, 2012.

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Provenance

Ella D. Constable, the artist’s granddaughter, by descent; [Spink, London, sold to the Duke of Westminster]; Gerald Grosvenor, 6th Duke of Westminster (1983–at least 1996); [Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, London, sold to Manton 20 Apr. 2002]; Sir Edwin A. G. Manton, New York (2002– d. 2005); Manton Family Art Foundation (2005–2007, given to the Clark); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 2007.