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Branch Hill Pond, Hampstead
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
An amateur meteorologist, John Constable was most at home painting meticulously observed cloud formations, weather conditions, and natural light effects. He believed an accurate rendering of these constantly shifting elements could convey his vision of the vitality and magnificence of the English countryside. Working from the summerhouse he rented at Hampstead from 1819–26, Constable painted a landscape focusing more on the dark rain clouds than on the laborers in the foreground, keeping the details of their backbreaking work at a picturesque distance.
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineBranch Hill Pond, Hampstead, 1828. John Constable (British, 1776–1837). Oil on canvas; framed: 89 x 105.5 x 11.5 cm (35 1/16 x 41 9/16 x 4 1/2 in.); unframed: 60.6 x 78.1 cm (23 7/8 x 30 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund, 1972.48
