at The National Gallery, London 

until 2 February 2025 

The latest in the National Gallery's Discover series focusses on The Hay Wain, once the most reproduced British Painting. Familiarity has failed to breed contempt, but instead fosters the notion that the work is a traditional landscape painting -  old-fashioned, even. However, one of the main aims of the exhibition is to explain how innovative the painting really was. 

 Truth be told, the image is full of nostalgia - not just for viewers in the 21st century, who remember 'the good old days' when life was slow, but even for those in the 19th century, when the work was painted: this was Constable's country from the days of his childhood. The painting itself is not 'old fashioned', but even in Constable's day, what he was painting was.

During the talk we will, of course, look at the painting in detail to discover its inner depths, but we will also think about what was 'traditional' for landscape in the first half of the 19th century. Our discussion will be based on the wide array of varied exhibits in the display, and will lead to a refreshed appreciation of Constable's skill and originality.