Harwich Lighthouse
- Artist: John Constable
- Date: ?exhibited 1820
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 327 × 502 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is the “Harwich Lighthouse” by John Constable, one of his early coastal studies that first appeared at the Royal Academy in 1820. The painting is small, about 33 by 50 cm, and captures the Low Lighthouse that stood on the coast of Essex, then leased by Constable’s friend Major‑General Slater‑Rebow. In a Dutch‑inspired style that was very popular with collectors, Constable presents the tower against a wide, rolling sky that he would later reuse for his “Yarmouth Jetty” composition.
Constable painted at least three versions of this scene, all derived from a drawing made in the mid‑1810s. While the paintings differ only slightly—one has an extra bird, another a slightly different foreground figure—they all share the same calm maritime atmosphere that defines Constable’s early work. The artwork was later presented by Miss Isabel Constable as a gift from her family in 1888, and it has travelled through a number of exhibitions, including a recent show of Constable’s cloud studies.
The painting gives a glimpse of life by the sea in early nineteenth‑century England, and it shows how Constable was already experimenting with light, composition, and the humble seascape that would become his signature.
See it in person
Harwich Lighthouse is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
