National Gallery of Australia | Audio Tour | Constable

Constable painted two cloud studies at Hampstead on 5 September 1822: this one at 10 am, and another about two hours later (Victoria and Albert Museum, London). He noted on both works that it was ‘bright & fresh’, and that the clouds were moving fast. There is good agreement between Constable’s inscription and the weather records for the London area on that day, which noted that there was a lot of cloud and that the wind was ‘very high’ (Thornes 1999, p. 265). Although Constable suggested that this sky would be suitable for a painting of the coast at Osmington, he did not use it in any known Osmington painting.