|
Dedham Lock and Mill This horizontal landscape composition is divided into two sections. The visual center is the gray rectangular church tower in the background. Tall trees dominate the right hand side of the composition. Grazing quietly underneath are two tethered horses, partially obscured by the shrubbery. A dirt path leads the viewer's eye to the foreground. Close to the right visual center, a man appears to be working a piece of machinery. The diagonal slant of his body points to the church. Left of center, in the middle ground, is a red building with an enclosed waterwheel. Several outbuildings recede back from the large structure. Two figures, left of the main structure, are enveloped within the landscape. A red sail glistens in the sunlight. The wood and metal workings of the lock diagonally course in front of the main building, as the horizontal band of wooden pilings leads the viewer's eye further left. All of the shapes are reflected in the stream below. A large red masted boat occupies the left hand corner of the composition. The wooden boat diagonally slants to the opening of the lock. The red mast is parallel to the verticals of the buildings, mast, church, and trees. A rope, tied to the boat and the stump on the right, leads the eye across the composition. The cloud's colorations reflect the reds of the structures and balance the dirt path in the right foreground, while allowing for definition each of the shapes. Background Although this composition illustrates the scene at Dedham Lock and Mill, it is a further example of man working in harmony with nature while harnessing it. Water mills were an essential part of food production, grinding the grains for baking. Moving the grains about the countryside was through an elaborate system of canals, and their resultant locks. Nature, to Constable, was a divinely created system, as illustrated by referencing Dedham Church in the peaceful background. Nature also reflected the highest of moral feelings and stability. The presence of the church above the horizontal crossbeam of the lock reinforces that ideal. The tethered horses, underneath the towering trees, rest from their task of guiding the boats through the canals. The dirt path, or towpath, leads the viewer's eye to their resting spot as well as to the lock. Further along, a lock keeper manipulates the lock gate, allowing the levels of water to even out. Man again harnesses the physical environment in order to maintain the balance of technological and natural forces. The red mast in the left foreground, along with the towering trees on the right, frame the River Stour, mill, locks and church. Their importance is reinforced in their compositional balance, as well as reflection in the water. Constable's father, Golding Constable, owned and worked Dedham Mill. Numerous drawings and paintings were derived from several vistas along the River Stour. It has been established that by the end of the eighteenth century some 2,000 miles of navigable water existed in England, of which approximately one third was in the form of canals built between 1760 and 1800: one third was in the form of ‘open rivers’ which were naturally navigable: and the remaining third had been created as a result of the work of engineers, chiefly between about 1600 and 1760.
|