It has been suggested that this jewel-like watercolour depicts the view from the attic window of Thomas Folkard's house in East Bergholt, looking across to the pitched roof of Constable's studio, a building that the artist owned and used between 1802 and 1816.

Painted in rich watercolour, which enables him to capture the early evening light and scudding clouds, Constable has used a sheet of Edmeads and Pine paper, a type that he took up at various points in the early years of the 19th century, most notably on his tour of the Lake district in 1806.1

This work was previously owned by Dr Gregory, whose collection of works by Constable was exhibited at the Arts Council, London in 1949.

Fig. 1 John Constable, John Dunthorne's house and workshop, East Bergholt

1. See: G. Reynolds, The Early Drawings and Paintings of John Constable, New Haven/London 1996, cat. nos. 06.191, 06.192, 06.204, 06.214, 06.257