Walton-on-the-Naze (recto), Weymouth Bay (verso)

This double-sided study probably comes from a sketchbook of drawings Constable made in the English countryside. He believed that sketching encouraged close observation and helped him understand nature. Unlike many of his contemporaries, who altered the landscape according to a preexisting idea or compositional need, Constable was determined to capture it exactly as it appeared at a particular moment. Ever changing and barely tangible, clouds were a particular fascination and an ever more frequent subject of his watercolors.