Rainstorm over the sea  about 1824–28
oil on paper laid on canvas, Royal Academy of Arts, London, gift of Isabel Constable in 1888

This view out to sea is one of the most remarkable open-air sketches that Constable painted during his visits to Brighton. He depicted a dramatic sky, capturing the fleeting effect of a rainstorm at sea. A shaft of sunlight breaks through thunderous black clouds to light up the horizon on the left.