Constable was born and brought up at East Berghold, Suffolk, where his father was a farmer and miller. By 1802 he had developed a manifesto for a new art: a 'pure and unaffected representation of the scenes that may employ me'.

These scenes were found in 'Dedham Vale', the valley of the Stour and it runs to the sea between Suffolk and Essex. Naturalism, and 'Constable country', are thus inextricably linked. Constable rooted his pictures in studies painted from nature during summer visits home, like this view of the Stour and the riverside house of the farmer, Willy Lott.