In A boat passing a lock 1826 Constable depicted a boat ascending the River Stour at Flatford Lock. The boat is tied to a post, while the barefooted boatman or lock keeper opens the gates to lower the water level so that the boat can enter the chamber before being lifted to the upper level to continue its journey. The diagonal from the lower right directs the viewer’s eye to the focal point: the red-clad figure. In the distance are Flatford Old Bridge and Bridge Cottage; the second lock gate and a barge can be seen on the right. A dog, present in a number of Constable’s paintings, appears in the foreground. Although this peaceful scene is bathed in light, the stormy clouds and rain in the upper left corner suggest imminent change.
Constable had been repeatedly occupied with the motif of the Lock during the 1820s, and it could be regarded as his favourite subject. His conservative attitude towards social change and his belief in the British class system can be seen in the many paintings made of workers happily performing practical tasks. Figures in Constable’s paintings are always in harmony with the landscape. Their actions are self absorbed and practical, belying the fact that during the winter of 1821 rural labourers in Suffolk reacted angrily to unemployment by breaking threshing machines and forming destructive mobs.
This painting was commissioned by Bond Street picture dealer and bookseller James Carpenter, in 1826. When Constable was elected a full member of the Royal Academy in 1829, he was expected to present a work to the Academy. Such was the value Constable placed on this work that he took it back from Carpenter to present to the Academy, depositing 100 guineas with a banker until he replaced it with a work of the same size.
Questions
• Do the landscapes of Constable do more than document an actual site at an actual time? Discuss in relation to this painting.
• Visit the Royal Academy of Arts website to read a brief history of the institution. When was the Royal Academy founded and who was its first president? royalacademy.org.uk