Wivenhoe Park, Essex

1816

Oil on canvas, 56.1 × 101.2 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington

A red-brick house sits beyond a wide lake under a sky of moving cloud, with swans on the water. It is a portrait of a real country estate.

Made for the owner, Major-General Francis Slater Rebow, his first important patron; shown at the Royal Academy in 1817.
Look at the cow at far left and the boat at right, where two men are setting a net.
He stayed on the estate to paint it. To take in more of the park for the family, he added strips at each side and masked the joins with that cow and boat.
The gallery's curator Franklin Kelly notes that he shifted trees and strengthened shadows and reflections. The gallery also stresses the play of light across it.
Kept by the Rebow family, bought by Peter A. B. Widener in 1906, and given to the gallery in 1942.