The Leaping Horse (full-scale study)

The Leaping Horse (full-scale study), painted around 1825, is the large preliminary sketch for one of Constable’s most dynamic six-foot exhibition paintings. The scene shows a barge horse leaping over one of the barriers placed across the Stour Navigation towpath at intersections with cattle paths. Constable’s practice of creating full-scale oil sketches before his exhibition paintings is unique in British art and reflects his need to work through compositional problems at the final scale. The sketch’s energetic brushwork and bold tonal contrasts often appear more vital than the finished painting, and these preparatory studies have been increasingly valued as masterworks in their own right.

The enormous sketch shows Constable's most energetic and spontaneous paint handling at large scale. Thick impasto applied with both brush and palette knife creates a surface of extraordinary physical energy, with the horse's leap captured in dynamic, sweeping strokes.

This full-scale study for The Leaping Horse is one of the treasures of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Constable made full-scale studies for all his major six-foot paintings, and these preparatory works are now valued as highly as the finished versions for their spontaneous energy. The large canvas has been relined and restored. The bold brushwork has been preserved through careful conservation. Some areas show the multiple revisions Constable made during the painting process.