  We consider a quintessence field which transitions from a matter-like to a
cosmological constant behavior between recombination and the present time. We
aim at easing the tension in the measurement of the present Hubble rate, and we
assess the $\Lambda$CDM model properly enlarged to include our quintessence
field against cosmological observations. The model does not address the scope
we proposed. This result allows us to exclude a class of quintessential models
as a solution to the tension in the Hubble constant measurements.
