John Constable’s The Hay Wain causes a sensation when it was exhibited with other works by Constable at the 1824 Paris Salon (it has been suggested that the inclusion of Constable's paintings in the exhibition were a tribute to Géricault, who died early that year).

In this exhibition, The Hay Wain is singled out for a gold medal awarded by Charles X of France, a cast of which is incorporated into the picture's frame.

The works by Constable in the exhibition inspire a new generation of French painters, including Eugène Delacroix, who, after seeing the Constables at Arrowsmith's Gallery, which he says had done him a great deal of good, repaints the background of his 1824 Massacre de Scio.

Constable is to sell only twenty paintings in England in his lifetime, but in France he will sell more than twenty in just a few years.

Despite this, he will refuse all invitations to travel internationally to promote his work.