The valley of the Stour, in Suffolk, was Constable’s birthplace and frequently appears as a leitmotif in his work. His preferred compositions make use of the volatility of natural forces such as cloud formations and trees bent by the wind; painting en plein air prefigured the Barbizon painters. His highly suggestive response to nature, often compared to Wordsworth’s poetry, would influence Géricault, Delacroix, and, later on, the French Impressionists. We can also see the extent to which Constable was himself indebted to Rubens, Ruisdael, and Gainsborough. Constable’s expressive style in Netley Abbey is punctuated with flashes of white brushstrokes which heighten the drama of this small, dynamic work. The darkened trees establish a frame for the stone-grey Gothic arches of the Abbey; the hovering birds in a turbulent sky of brown, apricot, and dull blue serve to intensify the moody, romantic setting. We hardly notice the two unobtrusive figures to the left, suggested by red and blue spots of pigment. Their individuality is absorbed by the imposing details of the Abbey and landscape, which Constable considered “experiments in natural philosophy.”