Hadleigh Castle is an oil painting by the English painter John Constable

John Constable

John Constable was an English Romantic painter. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for his landscape paintings of Dedham Vale, the area surrounding his home—now known as "Constable Country"—which he invested with an intensity of affection...

.

John Constable visited Hadleigh Castle

Hadleigh Castle

Hadleigh Castle in the English county of Essex overlooks the Thames estuary from a ridge to the south of the town of Hadleigh. Built after 1215 during the reign of Henry III by Hubert de Burgh, the castle was surrounded by parkland and had an important economic, as well as defensive role...

 in 1814 and made a minute drawing of the castle as preparation for ten oil sketches and a single painting. The oil painting was produced in 1829 and exhibited at the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

 in the same year. One of the sketches is currently displayed at the Tate Gallery

Tate Gallery

The Tate is an institution that houses the United Kingdom's national collection of British Art, and International Modern and Contemporary Art...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, while the painting now hangs in the Yale Center for British Art

Yale Center for British Art

The Yale Center for British Art is an art museum in New Haven, Connecticut at Yale University which houses the most comprehensive collection of British Art outside the United Kingdom...

 at New Haven, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Constable's painting, "one of his most monumental works" according to art historians Tammis Groft and Mary Mackay, shows Hadleigh Castle as a decaying man-made structure, succumbing to the elemental power of nature.