Nephosthe weather behind the paintings
Constable’s Tree at Right: light catches small clouds above dark treetops at the lower right.
John Constable, Cloud Study, Hampstead, Tree at Right. Royal Academy of Arts, 03/455; gift of Isabel Constable, 1888. Public domain (PD-Art), via Art UK / Wikimedia Commons.
Constable’s Stormy Sunset: grey clouds, blue openings and pale pink light below, with a red disc partly hidden at left.
John Constable, Cloud Study: Stormy Sunset, 1821–1822. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1998.20.1. Gift of Louise Mellon in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. CC0 / public domain.

A study against the weather record

John Constable

Two cloud studies, 1821–22

Royal Academy of Arts, 03/455 · National Gallery of Art, 1998.20.1

One inscribed morning and one undated storm. The surviving words determine what each painted sky can tell us about the weather.

2paintings, each with its own study. The dated inscription can be compared with a daily register; the sunset’s storm remains unidentified.

Dated morning: partial agreementSunset: storm unknown

The recordsStart with the inscribed morning

The Nephos method

How this study was read

The method in full

  1. What is written

    One sketch has an inscribed morning; the other has a two-year catalogue interval. Each painting has its own study and limits.

  2. Records of those days

    Not found or not yet searched

    • Neither record measures the individual clouds painted at Constable’s position.

  3. Each claim tested

    • Tree at Right The fine, cloudy description finds support in Howard, while exact wind and sultriness remain qualified.
    • Stormy Sunset The catalogue’s storm cannot be assigned a day; regional temperature does not authenticate it.

  4. Verdict

    The difference in dating evidence controls what each comparison can say.

    • Partially agreesTree at Right: broad weather description The daily comparison has both support and limits.
    • UnknownStormy Sunset: a datable storm The surviving documentation supplies no day.

What this cannot tell you. Use the separate painting pages for the records, source receipts and the alternative metadata-date comparison.

Two painting studies

What a date lets the records test

Constable’s cloud sketches preserve choices about light, movement and paint. Their written evidence survives unevenly. Read each painting with the records its dating permits.

Cloud Study, Hampstead, Tree at Right

Royal Academy, 03/455. The inscription supplies 11 September 1821, 10–11am. Howard’s fine, cloudy day supports the broad description, while the wind directions differ. The writing extends beyond the painted morning to later rain.

The Google Arts & Culture entry for the Royal Academy gives 27 September 1821; the inscription is the date basis here. The painting study shows both dates from the same records.

Cloud Study: Stormy Sunset

National Gallery of Art, 1998.20.1. The holder supplies 1821–1822, with no readable date annotation. Its post-storm interpretation cannot be tied to a daily observation. The study presents the making of the sky and regional temperature context, with the storm left undated.

Sources

Every source on this page

Each file was downloaded and given a fingerprint (its sha256). The page is rebuilt from these files and will not build if a fingerprint changes, so every number above comes from them rather than being typed in.

  1. National Gallery of Australia, Constable exhibition (2006), Tree at RightMuseum text; brief quotation and attributed paraphrase · retrieved 7 October 2026sha256 9229e8f12ea0170ab1318d24a2c84b47331b824aa98c5648af09abe6a2d0f8c6
  2. National Gallery of Art, 1998.20.1; Philip Conisbee (2000), captured web textMuseum text; brief quotation and attributed paraphrase · retrieved 7 October 2026sha256 d2c49763aafbe6c127ceb7b4ac05bbd31a4049fbde910fbae70e3ad32454e9ae
  3. Royal Academy of Arts on Google Arts & Culture: conflicting date metadataMuseum metadata; no image reused from this source · retrieved 7 October 2026sha256 ceb3f3fe930ed0228b43552c9ff270d717b090c2b740a0b1fb47b0bdd84add18
  4. Howard, The Climate of London (1833), vol. III, Table CLXXXIV, p. 60Public domain; Internet Archive / Digital Library of India · retrieved 7 October 2026sha256 94f31331517db9c42e73fd7b4109969587359f18c3d1be2826f237907aa67ad3
  5. Howard, notes and results, p. 61Public domain; Internet Archive / Digital Library of India · retrieved 7 October 2026sha256 e9a7f9ece12f5d7b8a64c96c6f2afb72a9cc656b3bde1c89b8358a487667169d
  6. Met Office HadCET daily mean temperature; Parker, Legg & Folland (1992)Open Government Licence; Met Office Hadley Centre · retrieved 30 September 2026sha256 c6948508f8d4b1cff2b302c83d6506244c804abc2d088a743ef8ab6c630184cc
  7. Met Office HadCET monthly mean temperature; Parker, Legg & Folland (1992)Open Government Licence; Met Office Hadley Centre · retrieved 30 September 2026sha256 c17868e014c4cfcc284a41149e6217b1dec976d7fa22fa91ed515e675eac3304
  8. Wikimedia Commons image rights record, captured web textPD-Art / public domain image; Commons text CC BY-SA · retrieved 7 October 2026sha256 f25925a88f4ed598a4d6ae72c7d51dcfa715ae5415b288ce67c7a4631d3ed44f
  9. National Gallery of Art open-access image policy, captured web textEligible object images CC0 · retrieved 7 October 2026sha256 03aa4c5b30788f765891d3d53bc743f00fa02fe9bff9139aa7e22619a64181ef

The numbers on this page, as JSONThe method card, as JSON