The artwork
Cloud Study
Oil paint on paper on board · support: 476 x 575 mm frame: 605 x 705 x 70 mm
No museum image is reproduced here.
View the museum objectJohn Constable · Tate · N06065
Cloud Study
“27 augt 11, o clock Noon looking Eastward large silvery [? Clouds] wind Gentle at S. West”
Museum transcription. Source record. Each underlined phrase links to its claim.
The inscription gives 27 August without a year. Tate attributes the work to 1822 from its format and the history of the sky studies; its catalogue also discusses Thornes’s weather comparison. Here 1822 remains a catalogue attribution and is not confirmed by the weather. Tate’s gallery label interprets 11 o’clock and noon as an interval; the solar calculation uses its midpoint.
Finding · Nephos analysis · version 2026-09-09
For Tate’s attributed year, both inscription and Howard give SW. Howard reports a thunderstorm about noon and showery weather; Tottenham also describes showers and a later dark cloud. These notes do not establish the silvery appearance of the clouds or gentle wind at the easel.
The Nephos method
How this study was read
The method in fullWhat is written
27 August 1822, 11, o clock Noon.
27 augt 11, o clock Noon looking Eastward large silvery [? Clouds] wind Gentle at S. West
Tate, N06065, 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
- “27 augt” The inscription gives 27 August without a year.
- “11, o clock Noon” The computed Sun describes the light available at an assumed place and hour.
- “looking Eastward” No independently identified landmark or measured painted solar direction fixes the painting’s bearing.
- “large silvery [? Clouds]” The register describes a thunderstorm and showers, not cloud colour or size at Constable’s position.
- “wind Gentle at S. West” For the attributed 1822 date, both give SW.
Verdict
For Tate’s attributed year, both inscription and Howard give SW.
- Partially agrees“wind Gentle at S. West”
- Unknown“27 augt”, “11, o clock Noon”, “looking Eastward”, “large silvery [? Clouds]”
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| “27 augt” Unknown |
The register has an entry for this day. Nothing in it names a painter. Page image | — | — | The inscription gives 27 August without a year. Tate attributes the work to 1822 from its format and the history of the sky studies; its catalogue also discusses Thornes’s weather comparison. Here 1822 remains a catalogue attribution and is not confirmed by the weather. Tate’s gallery label interprets 11 o’clock and noon as an interval; the solar calculation uses its midpoint. No independent source assembled here dates the painting. Link to claim |
| “11, o clock Noon” Unknown |
— | — | 48.2° altitude · 168.5° azimuthAt 11:30 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 Eastward” Unknown |
— | — | 48.2° altitude · 168.5° azimuthAt 11:30 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 |
| “large silvery [? Clouds]” Unknown |
“A thunder-storm about noon: showery.” Note page image.Tott. (Tottenham): “Showery through the day: a very dark cloud p. m. followed by a thunder-shower.” Page image. | Wind from 225° · 2.6 m/s; 59 ± 34% cloud; 18.1 ± 2.2°C12:00 UTC; a regional cell, about 111 × 68 km. Mean and one-sigma spread. Query sources. | — | The register describes a thunderstorm and showers, not cloud colour or size at Constable’s position. The museum’s uncertain reading “[? Clouds]” is retained. Link to claim |
| “wind Gentle at S. West” Partially agrees |
SWPage image | Wind from 225° · 2.6 m/s; 59 ± 34% cloud; 18.1 ± 2.2°C12:00 UTC; a regional cell, about 111 × 68 km. Mean and one-sigma spread. Query sources. | — | For the attributed 1822 date, both give SW. Howard’s daily cell supplies no strength at the easel, so “Gentle” remains untested. This comparison does not resolve the year. 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 · 27 August 1822
The printed register
SW · 71° / 50°F
Wind and first thermometer, maximum/minimum for 27 August 1822. Page image.
“A thunder-storm about noon: showery.” Note page image.
Tott. (Tottenham): “Showery through the day: a very dark cloud p. m. followed by a thunder-shower.” Page image.
The table does not establish conditions at Constable’s position. Supplementary Tottenham observations are kept separate from the main register.
The computed sun
48.2° altitude · 168.5° azimuth
At 11:30 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 225° · 2.6 m/s; 59 ± 34% cloud; 18.1 ± 2.2°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
- No place is transcribed in this museum entry. The exact easel coordinates are not established; the solar comparison uses the assumed Hampstead position.
- Date evidence
- The inscription gives 27 August without a year. Tate attributes the work to 1822 from its format and the history of the sky studies; its catalogue also discusses Thornes’s weather comparison. Here 1822 remains a catalogue attribution and is not confirmed by the weather. Tate’s gallery label interprets 11 o’clock and noon as an interval; the solar calculation uses its midpoint. 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 Tate: this record is for N06065. 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.
- M1Tate: John Constable, Cloud Study, N06065. Object page; museum transcription. Tate's transcription gives no year. The date combines the catalogue year with the inscribed day and month. The raised t in “augt” is kept as Tate prints it.
- H1Luke Howard, The Climate of London, 2nd edition, vol. III (London: Harvey and Darton, 1833); Table CXCV, p. 88; continuation and results, p. 89 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