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View at the Ashmolean ↗Object research · John Constable · Ashmolean Museum · WA1933.7
Study of Clouds
1822, exact day unresolved · Hampstead campaign
“31 Sep.r 10-11 o'clock morning looking Eastward a gentle wind to East”
Ashmolean catalogue transcription. The written date cannot exist in the calendar; the museum proposes 1 October 1822. A1 Each phrase is underlined in its verdict and links to its row.
Finding · Nephos analysis · version 2026-09-07
The museum identifies this as the study inscribed with an impossible date: 31 September. It proposes 1 October 1822 instead. Howard’s London-area register records an east wind and fine weather on 1 October, but 30 September was also fine with a northeast wind. The object is secure; the exact day remains unresolved.
The Nephos method
How this study was read
The method in fullWhat is written
1 October 1822 · disputed, 10-11 o'clock morning.
31 Sep.r 10-11 o'clock morning looking Eastward a gentle wind to East
Ashmolean Museum, WA1933.7, as the museum transcribes it
Records of those days
- Luke Howard’s registerPrinted daily wind, thermometer and notes, The Climate of London. Kept at Tottenham or Stratford, not Hampstead.
- The computed sunPosition of the sun for the written hour at the assumed place.
Each claim tested
- “31 Sep.r” as a date” September has only 30 days, so the inscribed date cannot be literal.
- “The correction to 1 October” Howard recorded an east wind and fine weather that day, but 30 September was also fine with a northeast wind.
- “10-11 o'clock morning” The conditional solar path is calculable, but another source does not establish the exact date or painting location.
- “looking Eastward” The object record preserves the words, but the located sources do not establish or test the depicted view direction.
- “a gentle wind to East” Howard’s 1 October register gives east as the wind direction in the London area.
Verdict
The museum identifies this as the study inscribed with an impossible date: 31 September.
- Partially agrees“The correction to 1 October”, “a gentle wind to East”
- Contradicts“31 Sep.r” as a date”
- Unknown“10-11 o'clock morning”, “looking Eastward”
01 · The evidence
Five claims, four witnesses, one verdict each.
The impossible date, the museum’s correction and the two neighbouring register rows stay separate. A plausible correction is not a proved date.
| Claim | 30 SeptemberHoward · NE · Fine · A2 | 1 OctoberHoward · E · Fine · A3 | The sunConditional · Hampstead assumed · A4 | CatalogueAshmolean judgment · A1 | Verdict · Nephos |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| “31 Sep.r” as a date Contradicts | 30 SeptemberThe month ends here. | 1 October | — | Constable’s mistake | September has only 30 days, so the inscribed date cannot be literal. A1 Link to claim · Suggest a correction |
| The correction to 1 October Partially agrees | NE · “Fine”Also compatible weather. | E · “Fine”Closer to the inscribed wind. | — | 1 October 1822The catalogue, Graham Reynolds (1984, no. 22.30) and John Thornes (1999) agree on the proposed date of 1 October 1822. A7 A8 | Howard recorded an east wind and fine weather that day, but 30 September was also fine with a northeast wind. Weather context supports the correction without proving it. A2 A3 Link to claim · Suggest a correction |
| “10-11 o'clock morning” Unknown | —No hour recorded. | —No hour recorded. | 30.6° to 34.4°Only if 1 October and Hampstead are assumed. | — | The conditional solar path is calculable, but another source does not establish the exact date or painting location. A4 Link to claim · Suggest a correction |
| “looking Eastward” Unknown | — | — | 148° to 165°Conditional solar azimuth. | Words preserved | The object record preserves the words, but the located sources do not establish or test the depicted view direction. A1 Link to claim · Suggest a correction |
| “a gentle wind to East” Partially agrees | NE30 September, London area. | E1 October, London area. | — | 1 October proposed | Howard’s 1 October register gives east as the wind direction in the London area. It does not report conditions at the easel or establish the word “gentle.” A3 Link to claim · Suggest a correction |
Described. Constable’s “31 Sep.r,” “looking Eastward” and “a gentle wind to East,” and Howard’s “Fine,” are words written for different purposes.
Measured. Howard’s neighbouring register rows are day-level instrumental records from another London-area location. Neither gives an observation at the easel.
Estimated. The morning solar path is conditional on both 1 October and Hampstead. A calculation under assumptions is not evidence for the missing date or location.
What is known and what cannot be known: the museum, accession, inscription and catalogue correction are identified. Another source does not secure the exact day or location, so the directional and solar tests remain incomplete.
02 · The witnesses
Four views of a missing day, with the gap left visible.
The values behind the table, each with its own reach. The museum’s correction is plausible; the period records located here do not make it certain.
Museum catalogue · A1
The proposed correction
31 Sep inscribed
An impossible calendar date.
1 Oct proposed
The Ashmolean’s correction for the catalogued year 1822.
The catalogue supplies the proposal. It is reported as museum judgment, not a date proved by Nephos.
Both neighbouring dates were fine
30 Sep NE · Fine
1 Oct E · Fine
Howard’s London-area register. Exact station and observation hour are unresolved on these pages.
The second entry is closer to Constable’s “wind to East,” but both fine days are compatible and neither fixes the easel site.
The sun, conditional · A4
The morning sun, if the assumptions hold
30.6° to 34.4° altitude
148° to 165° azimuth
Between 10 and 11 a.m. local mean time, only if 1 October 1822 and Hampstead, 51.56° N, 0.165° W, are assumed. JPL Horizons / DE441.
This calculation does not establish the missing date or painting location.
Evidence gap · A5
What the located sources cannot settle
No observation located for this record uniquely distinguishes 30 September from 1 October, measures whether the wind was gentle at Constable’s position, or fixes the easel’s location.
Without those facts, the inscription’s direction and time cannot be tested against the painted light with confidence.
No museum capture is reproduced or measured here because reuse on this site was not clearly authorized.
03 · Making the artwork
The sky passed through an artist’s decisions.
Production uncertainty is separate from weather uncertainty. The located sources do not establish every stage of this object’s making, and “unknown” is not evidence that a stage did not happen.
- Locationpartly known
- Hampstead supplies the campaign context; the exact easel location is not established in this record. A1 Affects view direction and solar comparisons.
- Date evidencedisputed date
- The date is carried through a museum catalogue transcription, not an independently timed observation of execution. A1 · Affected claim
- Outdoor executionunresolved
- The evidence assembled here does not establish that every passage was executed outdoors in the stated interval. Affects whether the inscription claims can be tested against depicted light or cloud forms.
- Preparatory work and later changesunknown
- No object-specific sequence of preparatory sketches or subsequent working sessions is established in this record. Unknown is not evidence that there were none. Affects any inference from painted form to a momentary sky.
04 · Revisions
How the reading changed.
The impossible literal date and the plausible catalogue correction remain separate conclusions.
- Original claim
- The inscription reads 31 September 1822, and the Ashmolean catalogue identifies the date as Constable's mistake and corrects it to 1 October 1822.
- Conflicting evidence
- The literal date is impossible. Howard records conditions compatible with the inscription on both 30 September and 1 October, so the weather evidence cannot decide which neighbouring day was intended.
- Conclusion now
- Contradicts The literal date is contradicted, while the catalogue's 1 October correction remains plausible but unproved by weather.
- Retained versions
- Ashmolean collections API Howard September 1822 page image Howard October 1822 page image
- What changed
- A first redesign brought the findings forward, compared the sources in their own words and stated the limits of what is known about how the study was made. This layout now places all claims and witnesses in one table. No new weather observation or independent validation was added. Read the page before the redesign. Its date names the saved copy; the original editing time was not recorded.
05 · Take this into your work
A record you can cite, print or embed.
Cite individual claims by their link, and cite museum and historical sources directly when using their statements. Nephos analysis is independent of the holding institution; image licences are separate from the research text. Inscription as transcribed by the Ashmolean: “31 Sep.r 10-11 o'clock morning looking Eastward a gentle wind to East”
Machine-readable
For the Ashmolean Museum: this record is for WA1933.7. If it is right, link it from your object page; if anything is wrong, write to Nephos and it will be corrected the same day.
The museum’s catalogue remains the authority. Nephos does not claim endorsement.
06 · Sources
Follow every claim.
- A1Ashmolean Museum: John Constable, Study of Clouds, WA1933.7; identity, metadata, inscription and catalogue correction.https://collections.ashmolean.org/object/372592
- A2Luke Howard, The Climate of London, 2nd ed., vol. III, September 1822 table: 30 September wind and note.https://archive.org/download/in.ernet.dli.2015.48048/page/n96.jpg
- A3Luke Howard, The Climate of London, 2nd ed., vol. III, October 1822 table: 1 October wind and note.https://archive.org/download/in.ernet.dli.2015.48048/page/n100.jpg
- A4NASA/JPL Horizons observer table: conditional Sun over Hampstead, 1 October 1822, 10:01 to 11:01 UT.NASA/JPL Horizons query
- A5Ashmolean Picture Library terms and conditions: image-reuse basis for the linked, non-reproduced treatment.https://www.ashmolean.org/picture-library-terms-and-conditions
- A6Ashmolean Museum, Landscape Oil Sketches Gallery: museum highlight identifying Study of Clouds, 1822, WA1933.7.https://www.ashmolean.org/landscape-oil-sketches-gallery
- A7Graham Reynolds, The Later Paintings and Drawings of John Constable (1984), catalogue no. 22.30: dates the study to 1 October 1822.
- A8John Thornes, John Constable’s Skies: A Fusion of Art and Science (University of Birmingham Press, 1999): dates the study to 1 October 1822; confirmed in personal communication: J. E. Thornes, email to the author, 9 September 2026.WorldCat catalogue record