John Constable (1776-1837) was an English landscape painter in the Romantic tradition. Born in Suffolk, he is known principally for revolutionising the genre of landscape painting.

In the summer of 1809, John Constable spent a fortnight at Malvern Hall in Warwickshire where he had been commissioned to paint a portrait. At that date he was earning a little by painting portraits, while devoting his free time to studying the landscape in accordance with his famous resolution to be a 'natural painter'.

This oil sketch was made under the stormy sky of a July day and is one of several studies painted in the fields around the house. It was made for his own pleasure, for it was not until 1820 that he was commissioned to paint a view of the house. There are considerable areas of overpaint in the upper sections of sky and this outdoor sketch may have been 'finished' by another artist after Constable's death.