In this print Constable sought to capture ‘one of those animated days when the masses of cloud, agitated and torn, are passing rapidly’ and the wind ‘meeting with a certain set of the tide, causes the sea to rise and swell with great animation’. It is based on the 1824 oil sketch Brighton Beach (Detroit Institute of Arts). Constable took his family to Brighton in 1824 for the sake of his wife’s health. He described the resort as ‘Piccadilly by the sea-side’, but was greatly inspired by the changing light and atmosphere of the sea and sky.