THE CORNFIELD, boy drinks from pool, dog herds sheep down a tree lined lane into a cornfield
A plate published September 1st 1886 by Raphael Tuck & Sons, Fine Art Publishers 72, 73 Coleman St, City London and 298 Broadway, New York. A boy has paused from the thirsty work of herding sheep at noon to lie flat on the bank of a pool and drink its cool water. This vision of a Suffolk/Essex lane in high summer was painted in January to March 1826 in Constable’s studio in London. The lane winding into the cornfield is based on Fen Lane, along which Constable had often walked as a boy from his own village of East Bergholt to Dedham, where he attended school. The lane still exists but the countryside shown beyond it was largely invented.
