Arundel Mill and Castle

This was the last painting John Constable worked on. He began it in 1837 — a watermill on the River Arun in Sussex, the towers of Arundel Castle beyond, cattle at the water and children fishing at the edge. On the last night of March that year he was still adding touches; he died in the small hours, the canvas unfinished on the easel. His friend Charles Leslie thought it far enough along to show, and it hung at the Royal Academy that summer, a few weeks after his death, as the final work he never signed off.