The Hay Wain The Hay Wain The Hay Wain is a painting by John Constable, finished in 1821, which depicts a rural scene on the River Stour between the English counties of Suffolk and Essex. It hangs in the National Gallery in London and is regarded as "Constable's most famous image" and one of the greatest and most popular English paintings. Painted in oils on canvas, the work depicts as its central feature three horses pulling what in fact appears to be a wood wain or large farm cart across the river. Willy Lott's Cottage, also the subject of an eponymous painting by
The Hay Wain On the death of his friend Mr. Young, Vaughan bought the painting from the former's estate; in 1886 he presented it to the National Gallery in London, where it still hangs today. In his will Vaughan bequeathed the full-scale oil sketch for "The Hay Wain", made with a palette knife, to the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum). "The Hay Wain" was voted the second most popular painting in any British gallery, second only to Turner's "Fighting Temeraire", in a 2005 poll organised by BBC Radio 4's "Today" programme. On 28 June 2013 a protester, reported to