Harwich

Sky takes up nearly two thirds of this canvas, and that was no accident. John Constable believed the sky was the most important part of any landscape, calling it the "chief organ of sentiment" in a painting. Here he gives us a sweeping English coastal scene near Harwich, on the eastern edge of England, with soft clouds drifting over a calm sea. A little lighthouse and what looks like a beacon stand on the shore, while sailing ships dot the horizon. It is a quiet, ordinary moment, painted with real affection for the everyday English countryside and coast.

Constable was one of the great names of English Romantic landscape painting, working in the early 1800s alongside his famous rival J.M.W. Turner. Unlike many artists of his time who painted grand historical or mythological scenes, Constable preferred the places he actually knew and loved. He often made small outdoor studies to capture the changing weather and light, then worked them up in his studio. This painting has that loose, breezy quality, with quick brushwork in the clouds and waves. It may not be his most celebrated work, but it shows his lifelong fascination with the sky and his honest, unfussy way of looking at nature.