DETAIL: John CONSTABLE,  Great Britain 1776 � 1837  'Harwich Lighthouse' c.1820 oil on canvas Tate, London, gift of Maria Louisa Constable, Isabel Constable and Lionel Bicknell Constable in 1888 Tate, London 2005
 
 
John CONSTABLE | The valley of the Stour at sunset
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CONSTABLE, John
Great Britain 1776 – 1837
The valley of the Stour at sunset 31 October 1812
oil on canvas
11.7 (h) x 28.4 (w) cm
private collection
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In 1812 Constable preferred to paint at the day’s end rather than in the bright light of the middle of the day. As he wrote to Maria Bicknell on  10 July 1812: ‘I do not study much abroad in the middle of these very hot bright days. I am become quite carefull of myself, last year I almost put my eyes out by that pastime’ (Beckett II, p. 80). This oil sketch, and Autumnal sunset  , are two of a small group of sunsets that Constable painted at this time.

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