Comparison Of Dedham Lock And Mill

While visiting the museum, there were many beautiful and fascinating pieces of artwork that really helped me connect with what we have been learning in class. However, there were only two paintings that really stood out to me. The two pieces that I chose are View of Egmond Aan Zee and Dedham Lock and Mill. The view of Egmond Aan Zee is a Dutch golden age landscape painting by Jacob van Ruisdael in the 1650’s. While Dedham Lock and Mill is an English romanticism landscape painting by John Constable in 1820. The main discussion will be about the different moods and feelings both of these paintings give the viewer, as one is bright, warming and relaxing, and the other is dark and unsettling.

Dedham Lock and Mill is a landscape oil canvas painting.

Several other buildings recede back from the main building with the waterwheel enclosed. Directly to the bottom left of the picture is a small sailboat that appears to be in a river that is in front of the house and cuts off the dirt pathway. Although it may be hard to see in the painting, there is a wood and metal lock in front of the main building. Also hard to see, is that constable reflects some of the shapes in the river below. The wooden boat however, diagonally slants to the opening of the wood and metal lock. Something else to note is the red sail of the boat is parallel to the buildings, church, and trees. There is also a rope tied to the boat and the stump on the right, keeping it docked and in position. The cloud's unique colors of bright and also darkish gray reflect the different colors, buildings, and shapes involved in the

The dirt path leads the viewer's eye to the pond and the buildings, as well as to the wooden and metal lock. There is a plentiful of diagonal lines and parallel lines that are evident with the sailboat, rope, and river. Although this masterpiece illustrates the scene at Dedham Lock and Mill, it is also an example of man (constables father) working in harmony with nature and harnessing it. In historical context and back in this time, watermills were an essential part of food production, grinding the grains for baking. Moving the grains about the countryside was through canals or rivers as seen in the painting with the sailboat and river.

To Constable, nature was a beautiful and divine aspect in his life that grasps other forms of life and structures. For example, he illustrates this by referencing the peaceful looking Church surrounded by nature in the background. Nature, to Constable, also reflected the highest of moral feelings and stability in his