Branch Hill Pond, Hampstead

ca. 1821-1822 · Oil painting · 24.5 × 39.4 cm

May one see it?

Not receiving at present

Victoria and Albert Museum

London, United Kingdom

It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.

Checked: 13 days ago
In this state since: Sep 25, 2026
Source: The museum

On the map Museum page

About the painting

Branch Hill Pond was one of Constable's favourite subjects. This sketch depicts the view from Jack Straw's Castle, an old coaching inn. In September 1821 Constable wrote: 'We have had noble clouds & effects of light & dark & colour - as is always the case with such seasons as the present'.

Victoria and Albert Museum

Particulars

Accession number: 125-1888

What it shows

Landscape Hampstead

In the catalog

Paintings Oil British painting Neoclassicism Romanticism 19th century British School Great Britain

Sources

Victoria and Albert Museum
Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Meanwhile, in the life of John Constable

The whole life

1821
“The Hay Wain” at the Royal Academy
The picture, shown as “Landscape: Noon”, found no buyer, but it was seen by the painter Théodore Géricault and the writer Charles Nodier. According to Delacroix, Géricault went back to France quite stunned and invited Constable to Paris, while Nodier urged French artists to look to nature rather than to trips to Rome.
1821
“I should paint my own places best”
In a letter to his friend John Fisher in 1821 Constable wrote that he should paint his own places best, and that painting is but another word for feeling. The Dedham Vale around his home came to be known as “Constable Country”.
1821
Son born: Charles Golding Constable
1824
The Paris Salon: a gold medal
The Anglo-French dealer John Arrowsmith bought The Hay Wain and other works, and in 1824 they were shown at the Paris Salon, where they caused a sensation. The Hay Wain was awarded a gold medal by Charles X.
1824
Delacroix repaints the background of “The Massacre at Chios”
After seeing Constable’s pictures at Arrowsmith’s gallery, Delacroix repainted the background of his Massacre at Chios, saying the paintings had done him a great deal of good. In his journal he noted that Constable’s meadow greens are a combination of many different shades.
1824–1828
The family in Brighton for Maria’s health
When Maria began to show symptoms of tuberculosis, Constable took lodgings for the family in Brighton in the hope that sea air would restore her health, dividing his time between Brighton and Charlotte Street in London. He was unsure at first that Brighton suited painting, and complained to Fisher that the beach was only Piccadilly by the sea.