John Constable · National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne · 455-4
Clouds
“5 Sepr (. under r) 1822. / 10 o clock Morng. looking South-East. / very brisk wind at West. / very bright + fresh Grey (inverted v under Grey) Clouds running very fast / over a yellow bed. about half way in the sky / very appropriate for the Coast. at Osmington.”
Museum transcription. Source record. Each underlined phrase links to its claim.
NGV transcribes 5 September 1822, 10 in the morning, from a paper label on the reverse. “Very appropriate for the Coast. at Osmington” is not treated as an assertion that the painting was made at Osmington; NGV places these sky studies at Hampstead.
Finding · Nephos analysis · version 2026-09-09
Constable writes W; Howard records SW, an adjacent sector. The wind direction partly agrees, while strength and cloud motion remain untested. Howard’s “Fine” does not establish the grey clouds, yellow bed or suitability for the coast.
The Nephos method
How this study was read
The method in fullWhat is written
Osmington, 5 September 1822, 10 o clock Morng.
5 Sepr (. under r) 1822. / 10 o clock Morng. looking South-East. / very brisk wind at West. / very bright + fresh Grey (inverted v under Grey) Clouds running very fast / over a yellow bed. about half way in the sky / very appropriate for the Coast. at Osmington.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 455-4, 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.
- 20th Century ReanalysisA modern reconstruction for a 1° cell about 111 by 68 km, estimated from pressure, not observed.
Each claim tested
- “5 Sepr (. under r) 1822.” NGV transcribes 5 September 1822, 10 in the morning, from a paper label on the reverse.
- “10 o clock Morng.” The computed Sun describes the light available at an assumed place and hour.
- “looking South-East.” No independently identified landmark or measured painted solar direction fixes the painting’s bearing.
- “very brisk wind at West.” W and SW are adjacent directions, not identical readings.
- “very bright + fresh Grey (inverted v under Grey) Clouds running very fast” Howard’s “Fine” does not establish the colour, brightness or motion of clouds in this particular view.
- “over a yellow bed. about half way in the sky” No independent observation of this coloured layer or its position in the view is assembled here.
- “very appropriate for the Coast. at Osmington.” This is Constable’s judgment of pictorial suitability, not a measurable weather claim or a secure statement of where the study was made.
Verdict
Constable writes W; Howard records SW, an adjacent sector.
- Partially agrees“very brisk wind at West.”
- Unknown“5 Sepr (. under r) 1822.”, “10 o clock Morng.”, “looking South-East.”, “very bright + fresh Grey (inverted v under Grey) Clouds running very fast”, “over a yellow bed. about half way in the sky”, “very appropriate for the Coast. at Osmington.”
01 · The evidence
The claims and their witnesses.
Each phrase of the inscription is a claim. Each column is a witness that never saw the painting, with its own place, scale and limit.
How to read itRead across one row: the phrase Constable wrote, what each witness can say about it, and the verdict on the right. A dash means that witness has nothing to offer on that claim.
| Claim | Howard registerPrinted table · Source | Weather reconstruction20th Century Reanalysis · Source | The sunComputed · Hampstead assumed · Source | Verdict and limit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| “5 Sepr (. under r) 1822.” Unknown |
The register has an entry for this day. Nothing in it names a painter. Page image | — | — | NGV transcribes 5 September 1822, 10 in the morning, from a paper label on the reverse. “Very appropriate for the Coast. at Osmington” is not treated as an assertion that the painting was made at Osmington; NGV places these sky studies at Hampstead. No independent source assembled here dates the painting. Link to claim |
| “10 o clock Morng.” Unknown |
— | — | 39.2° altitude · 140.8° azimuthAt 10:00 local mean time; Hampstead assumed. Computation. | The computed Sun describes the light available at an assumed place and hour. No independently identified landmark or measured painted solar direction establishes the time of execution. Link to claim |
| “looking South-East.” Unknown |
— | — | 39.2° altitude · 140.8° azimuthAt 10:00 local mean time; Hampstead assumed. Computation. | No independently identified landmark or measured painted solar direction fixes the painting’s bearing. The solar position alone cannot establish the stated view. Link to claim |
| “very brisk wind at West.” Partially agrees |
SWPage image | Wind from 235° · 5.3 m/s; 85 ± 23% cloud; 16.8 ± 2.1°C12:00 UTC; a regional cell, about 111 × 68 km. Mean and one-sigma spread. Query sources. | — | W and SW are adjacent directions, not identical readings. Howard’s station is distinct from the assumed Hampstead site, and his cell gives no wind strength. Link to claim |
| “very bright + fresh Grey (inverted v under Grey) Clouds running very fast” Unknown |
“Fine.” Note page image. | Wind from 235° · 5.3 m/s; 85 ± 23% cloud; 16.8 ± 2.1°C12:00 UTC; a regional cell, about 111 × 68 km. Mean and one-sigma spread. Query sources. | — | Howard’s “Fine” does not establish the colour, brightness or motion of clouds in this particular view. The museum’s editorial notation is preserved. Link to claim |
| “over a yellow bed. about half way in the sky” Unknown |
“Fine.” Note page image. | — | — | No independent observation of this coloured layer or its position in the view is assembled here. Link to claim |
| “very appropriate for the Coast. at Osmington.” Unknown |
— | — | — | This is Constable’s judgment of pictorial suitability, not a measurable weather claim or a secure statement of where the study was made. Link to claim |
Described. Words used by a person in a particular context: the inscription and the printed register. A felt quality cannot be converted into a threshold, and strength words have no shared numerical scale.
Modelled. A reconstruction describes a regional cell. It is not an observation at the easel. No weather agreement independently establishes a painting's date.
02 · The witnesses
What each source can reach.
Howard · 5 September 1822
The printed register
SW · 73° / 60°F
Wind and first thermometer, maximum/minimum for 5 September 1822. Page image.
“Fine.” Note page image.
The table page does not label its station. Howard's registers for these years were kept at Tottenham and Stratford, not Hampstead.
The computed sun
39.2° altitude · 140.8° azimuth
At 10:00 local mean time; 51.560° N, 0.165° W is an assumed Hampstead position. No cited source establishes the clock basis; local mean time there trails UTC by about 40 seconds.
A solar calculation supplies no observation of the painting's execution. No painted angular measurement is established here.
Weather reconstruction
Regional context
Wind from 235° · 5.3 m/s; 85 ± 23% cloud; 16.8 ± 2.1°C
12:00 UTC at 52° N, 0° E. Wind speed and bearing calculated from the mean u/v components; component spreads are retained in the query sources. Cloud and temperature show mean and one-sigma spread. This is a 1° cell about 111 × 68 km. No local wind-strength scale or capture cloud measurement is established here.
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
- The inscription mentions Osmington as a coast for which the sky is appropriate. NGV discusses this work among the Hampstead studies. The execution site is not established. The exact easel coordinates are not established; the solar comparison uses the assumed Hampstead position.
- Date evidence
- NGV transcribes 5 September 1822, 10 in the morning, from a paper label on the reverse. “Very appropriate for the Coast. at Osmington” is not treated as an assertion that the painting was made at Osmington; NGV places these sky studies at Hampstead. Museum source.
- Outdoor executionunresolved
- The evidence assembled here does not establish that every passage was executed outdoors in the stated interval.
- Preparatory work and later changesunknown
- No complete sequence or timing of working sessions is established by the sources assembled here. No technical examination of this object is offered.
04 · Revisions
How the reading changed.
- Sources assembled
- The museum transcription is placed beside the independently dated register and modelled context. Catalogue qualifications remain explicit.
- What remains open
- This is the first Nephos record for this object. No earlier verdict is being revised.
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.
Machine-readable
For the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne: this record is for 455-4. 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.
- M1National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne: John Constable, Clouds, 455-4. Object page; museum transcription. The place is stated within the holder's transcription.
- H1Luke Howard, The Climate of London, 2nd edition, vol. III (London: Harvey and Darton, 1833); Table CXCVI, p. 90, with the notes for the Ninth Month (September) 1822 on the same page Page image. Printed monthly results.
- S1Skyfield 1.55 with JPL DE440. Apparent topocentric Sun without atmospheric refraction. The place and clock basis are assumptions; the calculation is recorded in the JSON-LD record.
- R1NOAA-CIRES-DOE 20th Century Reanalysis v3. tcdc mean · tcdc spread · uwnd mean · uwnd spread · vwnd mean · vwnd spread · air mean · air spread
