Constable focused on the trees and sky to evoke the atmosphere of the park, rather than on the actions and expressions of the figures, which he only sketched in broadly to add accents of colour. Although this oil sketch has been described as a Hampstead scene, Reynolds suggests that Constable is more likely to have painted it at Green Park, looking towards Apsley House. However it might well depict St James’s Park, looking towards Whitehall. If so, it is one of the few park scenes that Constable painted in London. Reynolds dates this work to 1823 on the basis of the handling of paint.