Oil paint on paper on card
Tate Britain
Tate Collection
Works with images
Works on display
General Collection
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/john-constable-108" aria-label="More by John Constable" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">John Constable</a>
Sea near Brighton
Bequeathed by George Salting 1910
animals: birds
Brighton - non-specific
cloud
England
England, South East
England, Southern
places
sea
seagull
seascapes and coasts
seasons
Sussex - non-specific
Sussex, East
UK cities, towns and villages
UK counties
UK countries and regions
weather
winter
<p>Brighton, on the south coast of England, was a place many Londoners escaped to. Some went there for fun, others for rest. Constable rented a house for his family there in the hope that the fresh sea air and change of scene would restore the health of his wife, Maria. This painting is one of only a handful of oil sketches Constable made outdoors in winter. He had written on being impressed by ‘the magnificence of the sea’ and of how seabirds, like those seen here, ‘add to the wildness and to the sentiment of melancholy’ at the shore.</p><p><em>Gallery label, October 2023</em></p>
paper unique oil paint card
10 October 2002 – 13 January 2003
2003-01-13
10 October 2002 – 13 January 2003
2003-01-13
2002-10-10
Galeries Nationales du Grand Palais (Paris, France)
2002-10-10
John Constable
Loan-out
12 May 2003 – 7 May 2006
2006-05-07
12 May 2003 – 7 May 2006
2006-05-07
2003-05-12
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2003-05-12
Constable 1
Collection based display
5 May 2004 – 25 June 2004
2004-06-25
5 May 2004 – 25 June 2004
2004-06-25
2004-05-05
Salander-O’Reilly Galleries (New York, USA)
http://www.salander.com
2004-05-05
Constable's cloud studies
Loan-out
4 September 2004 – 9 January 2005
2005-01-09
4 September 2004 – 9 January 2005
2005-01-09
2004-09-04
Statens Museum for Kunst (Copenhagen, Denmark)
2004-09-04
Turner and Constable and their European Contemporaries
Loan-out
3 April 2007 – 16 June 2007
2007-06-16
3 April 2007 – 16 June 2007
2007-06-16
2007-04-03
Salander-O’Reilly Galleries (New York, USA)
http://www.salander.com
2007-04-03
John Constable: 20 Years of Oil Sketches (1809-1829)
Loan-out
5 August 2010 – 17 April 2012
2012-04-17
5 August 2010 – 17 April 2012
2012-04-17
2010-08-05
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2010-08-05
Constable: Sketching from Nature
Collection based display
14 April 2012 – 27 March 2013
2013-03-27
14 April 2012 – 27 March 2013
2013-03-27
2012-04-14
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2012-04-14
Constable / Turner
Collection based display
22 July 2013 – 28 June 2014
2014-06-28
22 July 2013 – 22 September 2013
2013-09-22
2013-07-22
Compton Verney (Compton Verney, UK)
5 October 2013 – 5 January 2014
2014-01-05
2013-10-05
Turner Contemporary (Margate, UK)
1 March 2014 – 28 June 2014
2014-06-28
2014-03-01
Laing Art Gallery (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK)
http://www.twmuseums.org.uk/
2013-07-22
Capturing British Landscape in the age of Turner and Constable
Loan-out
8 April 2017 – 8 October 2017
2017-10-08
8 April 2017 – 8 October 2017
2017-10-08
2017-04-08
Brighton Museum and Art Gallery (Brighton, UK)
http://www.brighton.virtualmuseum.info
2017-04-08
Constable in Brighton
Loan-out
20 February 2021 – 4 February 2023
2023-02-04
20 February 2021 – 31 May 2021
2021-05-31
2021-02-20
Mitsubishi Ichigokan (Tokyo, Japan)
1 July 2022 – 9 October 2022
2022-10-09
2022-07-01
Villa Vauban (Luxembourg City, Luxembourg)
24 October 2022 – 4 February 2023
2023-02-04
2022-10-24
Reggia di Venaria Reale (Turin, Italy)
2021-02-20
Constable and England: A History of His Affections
Tate partnerships & programmes
13 March 2023
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2023-03-13
Gallery 108
Collection based display
The Sea near Brighton
support: 175 × 238 mm
frame: 356 × 422 × 76 mm
Bequeathed by George Salting 1910
<div class="text">
<p>Brighton, on the south coast of England, was a place many Londoners escaped to. Some went there for fun, others for rest. Constable rented a house for his family there in the hope that the fresh sea air and change of scene would restore the health of his wife, Maria. This painting is one of only a handful of oil sketches Constable made outdoors in winter. He had written on being impressed by ‘the magnificence of the sea’ and of how seabirds, like those seen here, ‘add to the wildness and to the sentiment of melancholy’ at the shore.</p>
</div>

Display caption
2023-10-25T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
<p><a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/constable-the-sea-near-brighton-n02656" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>N02656</span></a> <b>The Sea near Brighton</b> 1826</p>
<p></p>
<p>Oil on paper laid on card, 6 13/16×9 3/8 (17.3×23.8).
<br/>Inscribed by Charles Golding Constable on a label on the backing-board (presumably copied from the artist's inscription on the back of the paper): ‘Brighton. Sunday, Jan<sup>y</sup> 1<sup>st</sup> 1826. From 12 till 2 P.M. Fresh breeze from S.S.W.’.
<br/><i>Prov:</i> Charles Golding Constable, deceased, sold Christie's 23 June 1890 (80, ‘Brighton, Jan. 1st, 1826’), bt. Dowdeswell £58. 16s. (a Dowdeswell label is still on the backing-board); ...; George Salting by 1902 when recorded in Holmes 1902; bequeathed by Salting to the National Gallery 1910; transferred to the Tate Gallery 1961. <i>Accession </i><span>N02656</span>.
<br/><i>Exh:</i> lent with other works to the South Kensington Museum (now the V.&amp;A.) by C.G. Constable's widow 1880–83<sup>1</sup> and to the Museum of Science and Art, Edinburgh 1883–86;<sup>2</sup> Agnew's 1910(86); Tate Gallery 1976(244).
<br/><i>Lit</i>: Holmes 1902, p.247, 1910, p.85; Shirley 1937, p.223; Davies 1946, p.37, 1959, pp.24–5; Beckett 1961, Paintings: Misc. II (2) No.2; Hoozee 1979, No.462.
<br/>
<br/>Constable went to Brighton to be with his wife and family over New Year 1826. On 14 January 1826, a Saturday, he told Fisher that he had returned on Thursday, i.e. the 12th, having stayed a fortnight (JCC VI, p.212). His principal work during this visit was a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>painting</span></a> of Gillingham Mill, Dorset, which had been commissioned by Mrs Hand and which was exhibited at the R.A. later that year (Yale Center for British Art, TG 1976 No.243, H.465). No.31 appears to be the only other painting made on this visit to Brighton and it must be one of the very few oil sketches Constable ever made outdoors in winter.
<br/>
<br/>1. No.25 in the list of Mrs Constable's loans published in Loans to the South Kensington Museum 1877–1891, p.29: ‘Oil Painting; sea view off Brighton, a fresh breeze blowing ...Dated 1826’.
<br/>
<br/>2. Loan 86, ‘Plain No.’ 25, in the Loan Register of what is now The Royal Scottish Museum. The description matches the South Kensington Museum one quoted in note 1, but the date is not given.</p>
<p>
<br/><b>Published in:</b>
<br/>Leslie Parris, <i>The Tate Gallery Constable Collection</i>, London 1981
<br/></p>

Catalogue entry
2004-09-23T00:00:00
catalogue-entry
CATALOGUE_ENTRY
animals: birds Brighton - non-specific cloud England England, South East England, Southern places sea seagull seascapes and coasts seasons Sussex, East Sussex - non-specific UK cities, towns and villages UK counties UK countries and regions weather winter