The White Horse

Painted in 1819, this peaceful river scene is the work of John Constable, one of England's most beloved landscape painters. The picture shows a quiet stretch of the River Stour, where a white horse is being ferried across on a flat barge. In Constable's day, towpaths often switched from one side of the river to the other, so horses pulling boats sometimes had to hop aboard and ride to the opposite bank. It is a small everyday detail that Constable knew well, since he grew up in this very part of the English countryside.

This painting holds a special place in Constable's career. It was the first of his famous large-scale canvases, the ones he called his "six-footers," and it earned him his first real success when it was shown at the Royal Academy. He loved this picture so much that he kept it for years and was reluctant to part with it. Look closely at the sky, with its big rolling clouds, and you can see why people admire Constable so much. He paid careful attention to weather and light, capturing the soft, damp feel of an English summer day in a way that still feels honest and true.