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.