DETAIL: John CONSTABLE,  Great Britain 1776 � 1837  'Harwich Lighthouse' c.1820 oil on canvas Tate, London, gift of Maria Louisa Constable, Isabel Constable and Lionel Bicknell Constable in 1888 Tate, London 2005
 
 
John CONSTABLE | Clouds
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CONSTABLE, John
Great Britain 1776 – 1837
Clouds 5 September 1822
oil on paper laid on cardboard
37.0 (h) x 49.0 (w) cm
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia, Felton Bequest in 1938
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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.

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