The Lock (Constable)
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| Artist | John Constable |
| Year | 1824 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 121 cm × 140 cm (47.5 in × 56 in) |
The Lock is an oil painting by English artist John Constable, finished in 1824. It depicts a rural scene on the River Stour in Suffolk, one of six paintings within the Stour series. It was auctioned for £22,441,250 at Christie's in London on 3 July 2012.
The Lock is painted in oil on canvas. It depicts a working rural scene from Suffolk, as a figure struggles to open a canal gate at Dedham Lock near Flatford Mill in Suffolk to allow a lighter barge to progress on the River Stour. There is a distant view of Dedham church across the quintessentially English water meadows The scene is set under a towering tree and a dramatic, cloud-filled sky.
The Lock is the fifth of six paintings that make up the Stour series of large-scale rural works, that Constable exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1819 and 1825. The painting is the only one of the series which remains in private hands, with the more famous The Hay Wain in the National Gallery, London.
After its exhibition in 1824, The Morning Post commented: "Mr Constable contributes a landscape composition which for depth, sparkling light, freshness and vigorous effect exceeds any of his works."Samuel William Reynolds offered to make a mezzotint print, but never completed it. His pupil David Lucas eventually prepared one from Constable's private copy of the painting (Foster version).
On the opening day of the exhibition, James Morrison (1789–1857) an inn-keeper's son from Balham Hill, London, and Basildon Park, Berkshire, acquired the painting for 150 guineas, the only occasion in Constable's career when a painting sold on its first day of exhibition. Its ownership then progressed down through his family:
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