John ConstableBritish, 1776–1837Sketch for <i>The Valley Farm</i>
Can I see it?
Yes, on view now
Where is “Sketch for <i>The Valley Farm</i>” now? Victoria and Albert Museum, Paintings, Room 88, The Edwin and Susan Davies Galleries, London. Yes, on view now. Checked September 25, 2026.
London, United Kingdom
RoomPaintings, Room 88, The Edwin and Susan Davies Galleries
Closed· opens tomorrow at 10:00 AM
On public display.
- Checked
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the painting
This study is related to a painting entitled The Ferry, exhibited in 1814. However, Constable may have painted it twenty years later, when he returned to the subject for The Valley Farm, exhibited in 1835. The house in the background is that of Willy Lott, a tenant farmer who lived there for over 80 years.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Details
- Accession number
- 140-1888
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Victoria and Albert Museum
- Image: Victoria and Albert Museum — © Victoria and Albert Museum, London
In the life of John Constable
The whole life1816
A marriage against the bride’s grandfather
Maria’s grandfather, Dr Rhudde, rector of East Bergholt, opposed the match: he thought the Constables his social inferiors and threatened to disinherit her. Constable’s parents approved but offered no support until he was financially secure; they died soon afterwards, and he inherited a fifth share of the family business.
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.
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.
23 November 1828
The death of his wife Maria
After the birth of their seventh child the family returned to Hampstead, where Maria died of tuberculosis at the age of 41. “Hourly do I feel the loss of my departed Angel,” Constable wrote to his brother.
February 1829
Elected to the Royal Academy at fifty-two
In February 1829, three months after his wife’s death, Constable was elected a member of the Royal Academy, at the age of 52.
31 March 1837
Died
![Vallon à Helmingham [Helmingham Dell], Constable, John, 1e quart du XIXe siècle (peint à l'été 1823 (selon Beckett)) (1823)](https://collections.louvre.fr/media/cache/large/0000000021/0000065616/0000312650_OG.JPG)
