Boat-Building near Flatford Mill

Boat-Building near Flatford Mill depicts a barge under construction in a dry-dock on the River Stour, near the mill owned by Constable's father in Suffolk. Constable painted the entire canvas outdoors on location, an unusual practice for a finished oil of this scale at the time, capturing the warm afternoon light and the texture of timber, water, and meadow with exceptional directness. Workers caulk and repair the barge in the foreground while cattle graze along the opposite bank and barges pass in the middle distance. The composition is calm and unhurried, celebrating the working rural landscape of the Stour Valley that Constable knew intimately from childhood. It was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1815 and later entered the national collection through the Sheepshanks Gift of 1857. The painting is widely regarded as a forerunner of Constable's monumental six-foot canal scenes of the 1820s.