This boatyard was located on the shore of a small tributary of the Stur River and belonged to the artist’s father, Golding Constable. Here the hired workers repair old ones or build new barges to transport goods. In contrast to his usual habit of working on a canvas in the studio on earlier sketches, Constable almost completely wrote this picture from nature. In his album for sketches in 1814, you can find a large sketch of the “Building barge”, which is dated September 18, as well as several sketches of individual figures.
There is an opinion that the artist created this picture “in pair” to “Vidu Dedhema”. Over “The Kind of a Destech” Constable worked in the morning light, and “Building a barge” wrote at noon. “Construction of the barge” was completed by the beginning of the selection of works for the exhibition of the Royal Academy of 1815. At that time, the artist passionately dreamed of becoming a full member of the Academy, so he listened attentively to the recommendations of Joseph Farington, one of the main members of the jury.
It was Pharington who told Constable that the “village scenes” were favorably received by the jury. “But,” he added, “such jobs are rejected often enough, finding them not well finished.” Farington advised the young painter to take Claude Lorrain’s canvas as a model. Constable after that specially visited the famous collector Angershteyna to study his works of Lorraine. He did his best and “polished” his picture to full brilliance. But, alas, he did not manage to become an active member of the Academy this time.
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