Branch Hill Pond, Hampstead Heath

Branch Hill Pond, Hampstead Heath
Artist	John Constable
Year	1824-25
Type	Oil on canvas, Landscape painting
Dimensions	87 cm × 103 cm (34.2 in × 40.5 in)
Location	Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, Virginia

Branch Hill Pond, Hampstead Heath is a landscape painting by the British artist John Constable.^[1] Painted between 1824 and 1825 it depicts the view from Branch Hill in Hampstead. Constable had lived in Hampstead, then beyond the outskirts of London, since 1819 and painted many views of the area. It was sold in 1825 to the collector Francis Darby. The painting shows some carts in the foreground as well as Branch Hill Pond. In the background are the fields around Harrow and the villages of Kilburn and Hendon. In the extreme distance is Windsor Castle.^[2]

It is now part of the collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond.^[3] Constable made a number of variations on the composition, including one now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London that was exhibited at the 1828 Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition.^[4]