The Cornfield
The Cornfield is an oil-on-canvas painting by the English artist John Constable. It was finished in 1826. It measures 143 by 122 cm and hangs in the National Gallery in London.
Constable referred to the painting as The Drinking Boy. It shows a lane leading from East Bergholt towards Dedham, Essex. The lane is called Fen Lane and Constable often walked it as a boy to get to and from school.
The painting was originally planned as a pendant to The Lock.
The Cornfield was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1826 under the title ‘Landscape’. The following September it was sent to the Paris Salon. It was eventually purchased by The Committee of Friends and Admirers and presented to the National Gallery in 1837, making it the first work by Constable to enter the national collection.
