Charles Golding Constable (1821-1879), the artist's son;
Charles Eustace Constable (1874-1899), his son, probably his sale Christie's, 16th April 1896, lot 52 ('Summer Evening: Stormy Sky');
Bought in c. 1900 for the Muller Collection, Paris;
Thence by descent until acquired by the present owner c. 2000

This dramatic oil sketch showing the strong glow of the early evening sun in summer with threatening storm clouds in the sky belonged to Constable's son, Charles Golding. It passed to his son, Eustace, and is almost certainly the picture which he sold in 1896, described as 'Summer Evening: Stormy Sky'. Shortly afterwards it passed into the collection of the Muller family in Paris and has been untraced since then. Painted in c. 1825 it shows the influence of the cloud studies which the artist painted with such enthusiasm in the summer and autumn of 1821 and 1822 whilst he was staying at Hampstead.

Each summer from 1819 to 1826 (with the exception of 1824), Constable took his family away from the polluted air of London to rented accommodation in the country village of Hampstead set on higher ground. Whilst he had at first made the move for his family's health, Hampstead Heath soon became a favourite sketching ground for him, as important to him as his native Suffolk. The low horizon and the magnificent views provided the perfect stage for sketching skies and the effect of light and moving clouds over the countryside. In 1826 Constable decided to move there more permanently, taking the lease of 6 Well Walk. His letter on 28th November that year to his friend, Fisher, put into words his appreciation for the area: "I am three miles from door to door - can have a message in an hour - & I can get always away from the idle callers - and above all see nature - & unite a town & country life" (Beckett, Correspondence of John Constable, Vol. VI, 1968, p. 228). From 1824 he was also making periodic trips to Britghton where Maria was sent on account of her ill health, and this gave him further opportunity to study the effect of changing weather on the clouds and the sky.

It was during this time in Hampstead that he made a number of sketches of sunsets, something he had hardly done since the few such studies done at East Bergholt in 1812. The present picture can be compared to Hampstead Heath, Looking to Harrow of 1822 (Yale Center for British Art), as well as two later studies painted on or near the coast, Hove Beach of 1824 (Yale Center for British Art) and in particular Shoreham Bay of 1828 (Victoria and Albert Museum). This latter is also sketched on paper and shows a strong setting sun with elements of storm clouds in the sky.

We are grateful to Graham Reynolds for confirming the authenticity of this picture.