Nephosthe weather behind the paintings

For museums

Pick a painting.
Get its weather,
and a piece to publish.

Choose one painting that carries a written date or place: an inscription, a dated letter, a title. Nephos gathers the weather records of those days, tests every claim against them one source at a time, and writes up what the records show and what they cannot.

  1. A public record of the painting. Every written claim quoted exactly, every source linked and fingerprinted, a verdict for each claim, and a plain note of what cannot be known. It can be cited, and your object page can link to it.
  2. The dossier. The records themselves: station readings, weather maps, newspapers and letters of those days, each with where it came from and how far it was from the painting’s place.
  3. A piece you can publish. A short account of the painting’s day for your blog, newsletter or label, drafted from the record for your review. It is yours to edit, and nothing appears under your name without your approval.

Nephos replies within two working days to say whether the records of the painting’s days can be reached, and when the record will be ready: within a week of that reply for a painting whose date and place are written down.

This opens an email to Vedang Sharma in your own email app for you to review and send. Nothing is sent from this page.

U.S. Weather Bureau daily map for 8 a.m., 14 May 1892, north-eastern states, with Block Island’s station symbol and the label HIGH offshore.
U.S. Weather Bureau map, 8 a.m., 14 May 1892. Public domain. The painting itself is not reproduced.

One example

Oliver Hazard Perry, View of Stonington [CT], May 14, 1892, at 5am

Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut · 2017.1.3

The museum suggested this panel on 17 September 2026, and the record went back two days later. The place, date and hour are inscribed on the front, lower right, in what the curator understands to be Perry’s hand.

  • Partially agrees“5am”. Sunrise at Stonington was 4:29 a.m. standard time, so five o’clock was daylight under either clock the painter might have used.
  • Unknown“May 14, 1892”. The Weather Bureau’s 8 a.m. map puts Block Island, 35 km away, at 44 °F under a clear sky with high pressure offshore, but no record confirms the painting was made that day.
  • Unknown“Stonington [CT]”. Nothing places the easel or the direction of view.

Open the Perry record A second American study: Homer’s After the Hurricane, Bahamas

What to expect.

Honest answers. Most verdicts are “Partially agrees” or “Unknown”, and the record says why. A painting is chosen for what is written about it, not for the answer it is hoped to give.

Your catalogue stays the authority. Each record names the accession it describes. If anything is wrong, write with the correction and it will be made the same day. Nephos does not claim the museum’s endorsement.

Images. A painting is reproduced only under a licence the museum has published or granted; otherwise the record links to your object page.

Who does the work. Nephos is an independent research project by Vedang Sharma. The method page sets out how every record is read.