Painted in 1821, exhibited in the French Salon in 1824, "The Hay wain," with two other smaller works, which had been purchased from Constable by a French connoisseur, aroused extraordinary interest in Paris, and had a potent influence on French landscape art.
"Constable"
C. Lewis Hind
There is also the testimony of William Brockedon, who, on his return from the Salon, wrote thus to the painter of "The Hay wain."
"Constable"
C. Lewis Hind
I have quoted these letters at length, because they are first-hand authorities, and because they state, with simple directness, the effect of Constable's pictures at the Salon of 1824. The two smaller works that accompanied "The Hay wain" we may disregard for the moment, and ask what is there in "The Hay wain" that it should have so startled the French painting world, and that it should have marked an epoch in the history of landscape art.
"Constable"
C. Lewis Hind