Flatford Mill from the Lock

This oil sketch is one of at least five that Constable made during the summers of 1810 and 1811 as preparatory studies for his large painting of A Water-Mill: Flatford Mill, Suffolk, 1812. Constable honed his technical and observational skills by sketching outdoors in the vicinity of his childhood home, near the village of East Bergholt, Suffolk. Constable was concerned with capturing the emotional atmosphere of the place, as well as its physical topography. He made the present sketch from the south bank of the Stour River, looking downstream. In the left foreground, a man is shown operating the lock gates, and beyond him we glimpse a corner of the water mill owned and operated by Constable’s father, revealing the artist’s personal connection to the landscape.