Cloud Study: Stormy Sunset
1821-1822
Medium
oil on paper on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 20.3 × 27.3 cm (8 × 10 3/4 in.) framed: 33.97 × 41.91 × 8.57 cm (13 3/8 × 16 1/2 × 3 3/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Louise Mellon in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon
Accession Number
1998.20.1
Art Historical Context
John Constable’s *Cloud Study Stormy Sunset* captures fleeting moment of dramatic in a compact oil sketch painted directly from nature. Created between 1821 and 1822 on paper later mounted on canvas, the small work measures just over eight by ten inches, allowing Constable to work quickly outdoors as changing light and clouds moved across the sky. This intimate scale and spontaneous medium highlight his commitment to recording atmospheric effects with immediacy rather than finishing a large studio canvas. Constable, a leading figure of British Romantic landscape painting, produced dozens of s...
About the Artist
John Constable · 1776–1837
John Constable (1776-1837) was an English landscape painter whose naturalistic depictions of the Suffolk countryside revolutionized landscape painting and established him, alongside J.M.W. Turner, as one of England's greatest artists. His work pioneered the direct observation of nature that would later influence the French Barbizon school and, ultimately, Impressionism. Born in East Bergholt, Suf...