The Opening of Waterloo Bridge (‘Whitehall Stairs, June 18th, 1817’)

Constable worked on this on and off for more than ten years. It records a real event, the opening of Waterloo Bridge on 18 June 1817, the second anniversary of the battle it was named for, with the Prince Regent crossing the Thames amid barges and crowds. He finished it in bright vermilion and gold and hung it at the Royal Academy in 1832, right beside a cool grey seascape by Turner. On varnishing day Turner walked in, looked at Constable's blaze of red, and dropped a single dab of red lead into his own calm sea. Constable said, he has been here and fired a gun. Days later Turner came back and worked the dab into a floating buoy.