The 9 square puzzle using the fine painting by English artist John Constable (1776-1837). When the puzzle is complete, you will jump to a 16 square puzzle with the same image. You can go there directly by clicking the red square. Information about the artist and the painting is at the page bottom here.

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The 16 square puzzle using the fine painting by English artist John Constable. When the puzzle is complete, you will jump to a 25 square puzzle with the same image. You can go there directly by clicking the red square.

The 25 square puzzle using the fine painting by English artist John Constable. When the puzzle is complete, you will jump to a 36 square puzzle with the same image. You can go there directly by clicking the red square.

The 36 square puzzle using the fine painting by English artist John Constable. When the puzzle is complete, you will jump to a 49 square puzzle with the same image. You can go there directly by clicking the red square.

The 49 square puzzle using using the fine painting by English artist John Constable. When the puzzle is complete, you will jump to a 64 square puzzle with the same image. You can go there directly by clicking the red square.

The 64 square puzzle using using the fine painting by English artist John Constable. This puzzle is getting harder yet with such a large image a puzzle with even more pieces would surely work well. Congratulations if you succeed. The applet permits up to a ten square puzzle. If there is any interest in my listing a puzzle of greater difficulty, drop me a line and I'll add it in. Information about the artist and the painting can be found below.

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The image is of the major portion of a painting by English artist John Constable (1776-1837) entitled "The Hay Wain" painted in 1821. You may see the original image on Carol Gerten's wonderful site (CGFA) here (Japan) or here (U.S.A.) along with many other of John Constable's paintings. This particular painting is in the National Gallery in London, England. I direct you mainly to any search engine for more of John Constable's vast body of work, but a short list of his major works and their locations can be found here. (strangely the list does not include "The Hay Wain").

John Constable was born June 11, 1776, in East Bergholt, a rural hamlet on the Stour river in Suffolk, England. For those unfamiliar with that part of the world, it is about 75 miles north-east of London and is, to this day, a land of lush greenery, meandering peaceful rivers, distant church spires, brilliant light and towering skies. Constable's father ("Golding Constable") was a flour miller and the artists' early life was spent working in his father's business. He moved to London and studied at the Royal Academy of Art but received little recognition as an artist for many years. "The Hay Wain", surely his most famous painting and that featured on this page, was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1821 but failed to find a buyer! The painting is approximately 51" by 73" (approx. 130 x 185 cm.)

The painting is of Flatford Mill, a water-driven flour mill on the Stour River. A "hay wain" is a horse-drawn cart used for collecting hay ~ it was most likely driven into the millpond to swell the wooden wheels and tighten up the spokes. The cottage shown on the left was rented by a farmer called Willy Lott and stood and still stands behind Flatford Mill. The mill itself still stands today too, though it is not possible, I understand, for the general public to enter it (property owned by The National Trust and used now as a Field Studies Centre). The whole area is, today, much as it was in Constable's time. A full-size sketch for the "The Hay Wain" is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, in London, but the actual work was created in the artist's studio in London. Constable married Maria Bicknell in 1816, despite opposition from her family, and the couple had seven children, five of whom became artists. They moved to Hampstead on the outskirts of London in 1819 (for the cleaner air, no less!) but Maria became ill and eventually died of tuberculosis in 1828. Constable was disconsolate after her death and himself died in London on March 31, 1837. He was buried in the churchyard of St. John's, Hampstead.

A portrait of the artist can be seen here and images of his parents are here. You can even see images of his gravesite. There are scans of "The Hay Wain" on a great many websites I visited, but many of the images are, to be truthful, just awful. Carol Gerten says she herself did all the scans of the images that appear on her vast site. She is truly an "artist" with her scanner!

It would be great to add a superb image of Flatford Mill to this page. You might check out these two pages front and back. I understand that Flatford Mill is a very popular tourist spot today!

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The java applet that runs the puzzle is courtesy of Axel Fontaine, who lives just south of the city of Brussels in Belgium. Axel invited free use of his fine applet which you can, I hope, download here. Axel, we thank you!