Constable's Sky Sketches Author(s): Louis Hawes Source: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol.

32 (1969), pp. 344-365 Published by: The Warburg Institute Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/750618 Accessed: 06/03/2010 19:37
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CONSTABLE'SSKY SKETCHES
By Louis Hawes I' have done a good deal of skying- I am determinedto conquerall difficulties and that most arduousone among the rest.... The sky is the source oflight in nature and governseverything.' 1 So wrotethemostdedicated cloud sketcherin history,John Constable. No other paintermasteredto his extent the ever-changing appearances of nature'smost elusiverealm. While severalearlierand contemporary artists madeoccasional skystudies,Constable holds a unique place in this sphere, not only becauseof the unprecedented quantityof his studies(mostof them in oil) but aboveall becausethey so often possess a compellingveracityand a richlyexpressive vitality. They achievean unrivalleddegreeof pictorialself-sufficiency, fullyjustifyingtheir acceptance today as autonomous worksof art. Constable's preoccupation with the sky culminatedin I82I-22, when he waged a veritablecampaignof 'skying'while residingat HampsteadHeath in the late summerand early fall of each year. Many of these studiessurvive, frequentlyinscribedon the back with the place, date, time, wind direction and furtherspecificweatherinformation.2Those of I82I (P1.sIa) generally include some suggestionof the earth, most often tree tops; moreover,the clouds are seldom particularlynaturalistic,being very freely brushed on, sometimeswith an almostexpressionist vehemence. The 'pure'cloud studies (P1.5IC) date chieflyfrom the followingyear. Most of these are larger,with the cloudsmorefully and subtlycharacterized.As the artisthimselfput it in a letter toJohn Fisher,7 October I822: 'I have made about 50 carefulstudies of skies tolerablylarge, to be carefull.'3 Often, the cloud forms are so convincing as to invite the meteorologicallyminded person to classify them accordingto the standardcategories:cirrus, stratus, cumulus, nimbus and their combinations. This in fact gave rise to one of the most widely cited bookson the artist,Kurt Badt'sjZohn Constable's Clouds (I950), which expressly tries to demonstratethat Constablereceived a decisive, even indispensable stimulusfrom the new science of meteorology. His thesishas won considerable acceptance in subsequentliterature,4despite its arbitraryarguments,
3 Op. Cit., p. I04. 1 Letterto John Fisher,23 October I82 I; Probablya fair number R. B. Beckett,ffohnConstable andtheFishers, of theseskieswere among the forty-onepure cloud studies (most datable I822) formerly London I 952, pp. 8 I-82. in the Newson-Smith Collection, sold at 2A typical entry reads: 'Sepr. I2. I82I. 26 January I 95I . Photographs Noon. Windfreshat West.... Sun veryHot. Christie's, of lookingsouthward exceedingly brightvivid & each are availableat the Witt Library,CourGlowing, very heavy showersin the After- tauld Instituteof Art. 4 While some scholarscite Badt's conclunoon but a fine evening. High wind in the night' (no. 222 in the Victoria and Albert sion without particularlyaffirmingit, none Museum). Characteristic is the thoroughly have criticallyexaminedor challengedit in empirical,unschematic nature of such nota- print. The only demuris A. P. Oppe'spassand ffohn tions. This particular entry reveals Con- ing commentin his book, Alexander stable's interest in linking a momentary Robert Cozens (London I 952). He rightly weathereffiect with subsequent developments. observes that the aspects of clouds which He possessed the 'modern' view of weatheras Constablespecially emphasizes 'their moa sequential process, ratherthan a melangeof bility, buoyancy,and above all, lighting'are 'purely a matter of vision and totally isolable,unrelated phases.

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distortions and omissions.The I 960 Germanedition5presents his theoryin the same unqualifiedmanner, making no attempt to deal with the relevantbut contraryevidencethat had become readilyaccessibleduringthe Igso's.6 In view of this, a critiqueof Badt'sinfluentialstudy is needed, togetherwith a new attempt to account for the Hampstead sky sketches or rather, an investigationof the known and most probable factors involved. Such an examination,furthermore,can have broad implicationsconcerningthe respective roles of conceptualstimuli and immediatevisual experiencein the creativeprocessof a predominantly naturalistic painter. Prior to Badt'sbook, the one externalcircumstance occasionallycited in connexionwith Constable's cloud sketchingwas the artist'sbriefemployment (C. I792-93) in one of his father'swindmills,an occupationrequiringclose observation of the skyand weatherconditions. Badtrejectsthis environmental explanation in favourof a specificscientificsource. He pointsout that the first modern cloud classificationsappeared in Luke Howard's essay, 'On the Modificationsof Clouds', publishedin Tilloch's Phalosophacal jZournal (I803) togetherwith seven schematicillustrations. In I820, Howard reprintedthe essay (minusthe illustrations) as the closingchapterof volume II of his major work, TheClamate of London. The latter, Badt maintains,Constable'got hold of. . . as soon as it appeared'.7He then argueshis increasingconvictionof a
indifferent to thescientiSc analyser' (p.5 I ) . In I820'S, especiallyCarus,Dahl and Blechen. dismissing the coreof Badt'sstudy,he remarks Thisportionof the studyislargelyconvincing. that it 'mighthave gainedin cogencyif Con6An invaluable new body of researchis stablehad not been included'. My reviewof R. B. Beckett's fifteen-volumetypescript, GrahamReynolds'sCatalogue of theConstableCorrespondence and other Memorials of John Collection in the Victoria and AlbertMuseum, Constable, R.A., I953-56, in the Victoriaand London I 960, for TheArtBulletin, xliii, I 96I, AlbertMuseumLibrary. Becketthasrecently pp. I60-6, brieflyput forth a few objections published most of this material: John CSonto Badt'stheory. In his recent monograph, stable's Correspondence I-VI, Ipswich I962-68; Constable the AaturalPainter,London I 965, Also essential is the unrivalled archive of GrahamReynoldsspeaksof Luke Howard's photographs of Constable's worksin the Witt Climate of London, London I8I8-20, as pro- Library,greatly expandedin the I950'S, inviding probably'an additionalimpetus'for cludinga largenumberof cloudstudies,most Constable'sskying, but sharing importance of them unpublished. with several other factors,notably: (I) the 7 Badtand subsequent writers on Gonstable painter'sapparentconcernaboutachievinga err in assuming that Tilloch's Philosophical consistencybetween the illuminationof the journalhad only a very limited circulation, groundand the structureof the light source for we know that it was, along with William in the sky; (2) his reflections on the roleofthe Nicholson's rivalffoarnal of Aatural Philosophy, sky in landscape,crystallizedin a letter of Chemistry, andtheArts,one of the two leading I82 I (discussed abovein sectionVI); (3) cer- intellectual and scientific journalsof the time. tain features about Hampstead Heath (cf. By no means strictlyconfinedto philosophy sectionIV); (4) the evidentvalue to a land- perse, it ambitiously embraced'The Various scape painterof increasinghis 'rangein the Branchesof Science, The Liberal and Fine choice of potential skies' (p. 86). This Arts, Agriculture,Manufacturers and Combroadenedview is most welcome, though it merce'. Pertinentfor Constablewas a series omitsseveralequallyrelevantconsiderations. of nine essays on art by Edward Dayes, 5 Wolkenbilder undWolkengedichte derRoman- appearingin I80I-I802, the last two in the tik, Berlin I960. The new title better corre- volume precedingthat containingHoward's spondsto the broad focus of the little book, essay. Being an avid reader of art theory, three chapters dealing with the impact of especially in his student years, Constable Howard'sessay (via Goethe'sprompting)on might conceivablyhave delved into a few Germanromanticlandscapepaintersin the volumes of the journal and come upon the
23

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'decisive'influence from Howard on the artist, concluding that the cloud studies'must'and 'could only' be attributable to the impact of the former. V9henwe examine the available evidence, we find no firm grounds to substantiateBadt's conclusion. To begin with, Constable's voluminouscorrespondence and notations so generousin references to booksand ideas that speciallyinterested him nowherementionHowardor his terminology. This is likewise the case with the only commentaryon clouds that Constable intendedfor publication:the interesting'letterpress' (c. I833) for the engraving Spring in his English Landscape. He employspurelycolloquialexpressions, such as 'the lanes of the clouds',or 'messengers' (as they are 'calledby windmillersand sailors') . The absenceof Howard'stermsis all the moreindicative in that the passagedealsexclusively with the 'naturalhistory'of clouds,making no referenceto art.8 We do know, however,that some time beforeDecember I836, Constable had read or consultedThomasForster's Researches about Atmospheric Phaenomena (I8I3), whichhe cited as 'the best book'on the subject.9The openingchapter would have exposed him to Howard'scloud categories. Unfortunately,we cannot tell just when he firstencountered such literature. True, he may very well have gained some awareness of Howard,if only by hearsay,duringthe first or especiallythe second decade of the century,when the meteorologist drew occasional discussionin periodicals. Yet, it remains possible, if less
cloud essay. Moreover, the one with very large and dense masses,and from their Howard's treatise(no. xvi) had a frontispieee loftiness seemto moveby slowly:immediately portrait engraving after a sketeh by Lady upon these large elouds appear numerous Beaumont,makingit almosteertainthat Sir opaque patehes, whieh, however, are only GeorgeBeaumont possessed a eopy. All know smalleloudspassingrapidlybeforethem . . .. how often Constablestopped by the Beau- detaehed probably from the larger eloud. monts' town house during the first two These floating mueh nearer the earth, may deeades,wherehis highly aucourant hostsfre- perhapsfall in with a mueh strongereurrent quently diseussedreeent literature. In any of wind, whieh as well as their eomparative ease, Howardseldomlet slip an opportunity lightness,eausesthem to move with greater to disseminatehis nomenelature,issuing a rapidity; henee they are ealled by windrevised version of llis essay in Rees's Cyclo- millers and sailors "meassengers",being paedia (viii, I 807) and Nieholson's Xournal alwaysthe forerunners of bad weather. They (op. cit., September I8I I). In addition, float about midwayin what may be termed ThomasForster's quitesueeessful book ( I 8 I 3; the lanesof the elouds; and from being so enl. edn., I8I5, I823), eited above, spread situated,are almostuniformly in shadow.... Howard's work to a still wider audienee In passingover the bright partsof the large duringthe teens. Thus, thereis eonsiderable elouds,theyappearas "darks"; but in passing likelihoodthat Constableaequireda general the shadowedparts they assume a grey, a aequaintanee with Howard'selassiISeations, if pale, or lurid hue' (Andrew Shirley, The Mezzotints of DavidLucas afterjtohn only indireetly,a good eight or ten years or Published R.A., Oxford I930, Appendix D, more before eommencing his Hampstead Constable, studies. Even so, his work throughoutthis p. 254). While these comments reveal a time and later shows no sign that any such closenessof observationrivalling Howard's, awareness had a decisive effect on his they nowhere presupposecontact with his approach to skysketching. wrltlngs. 9 Letterto GeorgeConstable,I 2 December 8 The paragraph deserves quotingnearlyin of theLifeofjtohn full. 'The naturalhistory if the expression I836; C. R. Leslie,Memoirs ed. J. H. Mayne, London I95I; may be used of the skies. . ., whieh are so Constable, particularly marked in the hail-squalls at this orig. edn. I843, pp. 257-8. time of year,is this: the eloudsaceumulate in
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likely, that he began dipping into such writingsonly in the I830'S, when he acknowledgedthat the natural scienceshad become his major side interest. Badt, on the other hand, assumesthat directcontactwith Howard'stext was made in I 820/ I .10 A more seriousand challengeablepoint is Badt's central argumentthat Constable wouldnot have sketcheda seriesof skiesunlessfirststimulatedby an external, conceptual influence of just the sort affordedby Howard'sessay. Observational experienceby itself, he assumes,cannot fosternew awareness; essential is a guiding, articulate concept. 'Only an external stimulus can explain why Constablesuddenlyfelt an urge to paint a massof cloud studies all at once. He did not arriveat this point . . . by paintinghis way to it, but was guidedto it intellectually fromthe outside.. . . Once thisis admitted,it is obviousthat the stimuluscan only have comefromLukeHoward.'ll We mightfirstaskwhy Howard'sverbaldescriptions shouldbe expectedto offerso essentiala stimulusfor Constable. Does Badt imply that the diversity of clouds had not been much noticed until the advent of Howard'sprecise classifications?The skies of many seventeenth-century Dutch landscapesas well as a numberof convincingcloud studiesdatingbeforeI800 (cited below) shouldsufficeto dispelthis notion. Besides,we knowfromcommonknowledge that what Howard termed cirrus clouds had long caught men's eyes, and acquired such colloquial names as 'cats' or 'mare's tails'; similarly, cirrocumulus clouds were popularlyknown as 'flocks',while the cumulo-stratus varietywere called 'anvil'clouds,and cumulusformswere occasionallycalled 'mushroom' clouds.l2 Howard, to be sure, made the valuable contributionof formulatingcategories that were more precisethan earlierdescriptions; and, most important for science, they formed part of a consistentand comprehensive theoretical system concerning the physical laws governing the formation and transformationof clouds. Doubtless,this was a significantadvancein the development of meteorologyas a science, but its indispensibility for Constableis not at all apparent. Granted, non-visual, conceptual sources affect an artist's
10It is true that by the I8IO'S, the terms cirrus, stratus and so on, were gaining wider currency in London (often independent of Hoxvard),making it quite plausible that Constable heard them on occasion. Moreover, while they are conspicuously absent from the weather data on the backs of the sky studies, there is one possible exception: the deftly sketched study of cirrus clouds in the Victoria and Albert Museum (P1. 5IC). Graham Reynolds points out that the present inscription, 'Painted byJohn Constable, R.A.', is 'written over an earlier inscription in ink (rendering it nearly illegible) which appears to have been written by the artist and perhaps reads cirrus' (op. cit., p. I49). If the word is cirrus, and not added later, then one may associate the I822 studies with current meteorological terminology, though not necessarily with Howard's text specifically. Even if this should

prove true, Badt'smain contentionthat the latter providedthemotivatingfactorremains pure assumption,unsupportedby existing evidenee. 0p. cit., p. 54. 12 Certainlaymen, such as shepherds, seamen and windmillers, had for eenturieskept a close wateh on the sky in order to make short-range weather predietions. Howard himselfpaid tributeto them, concedingthat the modern meteorologist is 'still obliged to yield the palm in the seience of prognosties to the shepherd, the ploughman, or the mariner, who without troubling his head about things, has learned, by traditionand experience, to eonneeteertainappearanees of the sky with certain approachingchanges' (I807 versionof his essay,Rees's Cyclopaedia,
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Vlll)

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choice and attitude towardssubjectmatter and objects,but they can hardly play as direct and far-reaching a role as visual sources --nature and art in inspiringthe actual physicalappearance of an artist'swork, particularly with respectto conscientious studiesmade fromnature. In any case, Valenciennes, for one, had alreadyby the early I 780'spaintedseveralsuperbsky sketchesin oil which are empiricallyconvincing,even though he could not have utilized at that time any scientificcloud analysescomparableto Howard's. Indeed, his exampleand severalothersdiscussedbelow refuteany assumptionthat a foreknowledge of Howard'sclassifications was necessaryfor subtly observing and effectivelyrepresenting variedcloudforms. Rather,intensiveobservation and repeatedsketchingof skies appear to have been the most potent factors operative.l3 We shall see that this was also the case with Constable,except that thereare a numberof importantsupplementary factorsand circumstances (overlooked by Badt) which we eitherknowor can reasonably claimhad some bearingon his sky sketching.
I. CLOUD STUDIES BEFORE CONSTABLE

A considerable numberof pre-I800studiesof cloudsexist, althoughonly a very few receiveany notice in Badt'sbook. One of thesefew is a study traditionallyascribedto ClaudeLorrain(P1.sId),14the importanceof which Badt plays down, claimingit is essentially a decorativeexerciseratherthan a 'true' study of clouds. This reflectshis assumptionthat the latter was not really possible before Howard. To my eye, this study representsa thoroughly plausible spread-outcumulus cloud mass; in fact, the cloud is hardly less classifiablethan the clouds in Constable'sstudies. Its pre-Howardian date arguesthat sucha studydoesnot presuppose a scientific knowledge of clouds. 15 Also relevanthere are two literaryreferences to cloud studiesby Willem van de Velde the Younger(I633-I707), who spentthe latter halfofhis life in London. The first appearsin William Gilpin'swidely read 7:hree Essayson Picturesque...Landscape (I792). 'Nobodywas better acquainted with the effiects of sky,nor studiedthem with moreattention,than the youngerVenderveldt. Not many yearsago, an old Thames-waterman was alive, who rememberedhim well; and had oftencarriedhim out in his boat, both up and down
13 Even Howard's analytieal deseriptions derivefroma purelyempirieal method,as he emphasizedin an artiele of I8I0, asserting that the fundamental basisfor all his findings was 'longeontinued and attentiveobservation ofthe phenomena ...' (Nieholson's iournal .... 0fi. Cit., Vi, p. 2I4). 14 Mareel Rothlisbergerpersuasivelyat-

tributes this drawing (and about seventy otherson blue paper)to an unknownartistin the eireleof G. F. Grimaldi,workinge. I650 (MasterDrawings,iii, I965, p. 380). He has also publishedanother cloud study on blue paper, eonvineingly assigning it to Angelueeio, a pupil of Claude, aetive e. I645-50 (ibid., iv, I966, p. 383, P1. II). The study reproduced above once belonged to Sir

ThomasLawrenee, whowasnotablygenerous in giving artistsaeeessto his superbdrawing eolleetion. Constablewas on friendlyterms with him by I 82 I (ef. letter to Fisher, 4 AugustI82 I ), and eopiedone of his Claude drawings,Studyof Trees(Mellon Colleetion), inJuly I825. However,I was unableto learn whether this eloud study had entered his eolleetionby I 82 I . 15 The sameappliesto a precociously early sketchin oil by A.-F. Desportes(I66I-I743), usually dated e. I 690'S (Manufaeture Nationalede Sevres;reprodueed in Mastersof the LoadedBrush, Knoedler,New York I 967, P1.59). Doubtless,Constablehad no knowledge of this study.

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the river,to studythe appearances of the sky. . . . Mr. Vanderveldttookwith him large sheetsof blue paper,which he would markall over with black and white.... These expeditions Vanderveldt called ... going a skoying.'ls Constable'salmost identical term 'skying' a word not in general use suggestssomeawareness of his predecessor's activityand quaintphraseology. Very likely,he encountered this passagein the later I 790'S, when he was mostunder the spell of the Picturesqueand apt to read such a source --or hear about it from one of his early 'advisors', particularly J. T. Smith or Sir GeorgeBeaumont (a friend of Gilpin). It would have reaffirmedhis already aroused interestin the sky, mentionedbelow in sectionII. Still more applicableto Constable'sHampsteadstudiesis C. R. Leslie's remarkthat Robert Smirke,Sr., knew 'a man who in his youth, had known WilliamVandervelde. . . and this man told him that Vanderveldeused to go to HampsteadHeath to studyskies'.l7 Constable had met Lesliein the I 8 IO'S, becomingwell acquaintedwith him by the early twenties,and even refersto a visit from Leslie, at Hampsteadin October I82I, the very time he was engagedin his firstextendedphaseof skying.l8 He mightwell have heardthis reportof his Dutch precursor by the time he had begun his own series. The first English artist to draw skies, so far as we know, was Alexander Cozens (I7I7-86). For the most part, his survivingsky drawings,including his most famous one, 7:heCloud,l9 are not actual studies from nature, but arbitrary cloud effectsconjuredup in the studio,as Badtrightlyobserves in his one passingcommenton them. On the otherhand, at least one comparatively naturalistic study, apparentlybased on first-handobservation,has survived: a subtlynuancedwash drawingin the Oppe Collection(P1.5I b), datingfrom a generationbeforeHoward. If formsa partof the Mackworth PraedAlbum, which Constablecould have seen in April I820, when it was viewable for a few days at Sotheby's. 20 Cozensis also noted for the unprecedented seriesof twenty engravedskies accompanying his extraordinary treatise,A J%ew Method of Assisting theInvention in Drawing Original Compositions of Landscape (I785-86).21 Badt does not mention these, which is strange,as Constablecopied the whole series,probably duringthe early I8IO'S (Pls. sIe, s2a). Althoughnot as stylizedas someof his
20 An equally importantsky study (again unmentioned by Badt) is John Robert Cozens'sTheCloud, c. late I 770'S-80'S (Oppe Collection;reproduced, ibid., P1.48). As in the father's monochrome drawingof the same title, a scale-giving strip of dark ground stretches across the bottom. The cloud forms,however,are softerand more natural, unlike the hard-edge, jigsaw puzzle-like shapesin the father'srendering. The latter, in fact, looks somewhatlike a Cliffiord Still canvasturnedon its side. pl I22. 21 The idea for such a series,and perhaps 18 Letter to Fisher, 3 November I82I; some of the originalstudies,go back to the R. B. Beckett,op.cit.,p. 84. Constable speaks I760'S, according to drafts of letters from of the visit as 'not long ago'. Cozensto WilliamHoareof Bath. See Oppe, 19Reproducedby Oppe, op.cit., P1. 2I. op. cit., p. 46.
16 Notes to 'On Landscape Painting, A Poem',op.cit.,p. 34. To my knowledge, none of theseskydrawings hasyet cometo light. A revealingfact is that the earliestoil sketches by Constable which exhibit prominent, vigorously paintedskiesareseveralfreecopies after Van der Velde the Younger, datable I803, such as the one in theJohnson Collection, Philadelphia (no. 86 I ) or another recentlyin the MaasGallery,London(P1.I46 in Sotheby'sCatalogue, I8 March I964). 17 Autobiographical Refections, London I 860,

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sky drawings,Cozens'sengravedskiesappearto deriveas muchfrommemory as from observation,falling roughly mid-way between 'schemata'and empirical studies. A conditioningfactor is their arrangementin varied pairs comprising two main groups:half cloudy and mostlycloudy skies. The pairs alternatebetweenthoseshowinglight cloudsagainsta darkskyand vice versa; within each pair, the clouds differ chiefly according to whether they are lighter at the top or at the bottom. Thus, the primaryconcernis not verisimilitudebut a varietyof strikinglight and dark patternsthat an artist can plausiblyeffiectin terms of general cloud imagery. As such, they could not very well have fostered in Constablea subtler,truerperception of clouds. Yet, the painterwas enoughinterested in the engravings to copy them (if somewhat freely).22We thereforeinclude this unique sky 'sampler'as anotherstimulus that probablyat least reinforcedhis growing conviction about the radical importanceof the sky in landscape. Furthermore, while Cozens'ssystem of grouping the series did not influence Constable'sapproach, the idea of a repertoryof skies is in itself suggestive,and could very well have helped to triggerConstable's decisionto makea whole collectionof studies,albeit not a seriesin the strictsense.23 Another eminent eighteenth-century British artist who made a few sky sketchesis Joseph Wright (I734-97), though he has never previouslybeen cited in this context. The wash drawingreproduced(P1.s2d) is one of three studiescontainedin two unpublished, intact sketchbooks (both in the MetropolitanMuseum)which Wrightusedin I 774-75, on his Italianjourney. The other examplesare pencil drawings,portrayingclouds in a manner close to Cozens, whose work Wright knew to some extent.24 The wash drawing,
22 E. H. Gombrich, in ArtandIllusion,New 'schemata' in the truesense,differing in kind York I960, brieflycommentson thesecopies, fromConstable's cloud studies,includinghis reproducingthree for the first time (Pls. earlierones. As such,they couldhardlyhave I46-8). True to his generalpoint of view- contributedto the particularized perception one stressingthe role of 'schemata'in the and naturalistic form-language embodiedin creative process he asserts that Cozens's the youngerartist'seffiorts.The same holds skies provided Constable with 'a series of for the equally generic illustrationswhich possibilities,of schemata,which should in- ThomasForster includedin the second,I8I5, creasehis awareness throughvisualclassifica- edition of his book (op. cit. ) . Constable's tion' (p. I78). However,he adds that Con- studiesare indeedthe polaropposites of such stable 'articulates and revises'these samples didacticprints. Luke Howardhimselfcame 'beyondrecognition' in his Hampstead cloud to suspect that his schematic cloud prints studies. I would tend to questionwhether could be potentiallymisleading in theiroverCozens's engravings had any meaningful simplifications.He omitted them from his relevance so late as I 82 I . Their possible book, 'satisfiedboth by reflectionand eximpactis inferableonly in a few drawingsof perience,that the realstudentwill acquirehis I8I2-I4 (see section II). Constable'ssky knowledgein a more solid manner by the style (in all media)from I8I5 on showsthat observationof nature, without the aid of he had fully digested and transformed this drawings,and that the more superficialare passing influence; presumablyit would no liable to be led into errorby them' (op. cit., longer have operated as an isolable con- p. lii). ditioningfactorin the earlytwenties. 24 In the British Museum PrintRoom,there 23 I should add at this point that Luke existsa third unpublished, intact sketchbook Howard'sengravedillustrations of the basic used in Italy (dated I 774) which contains cloud types (P1.52C) are, unlikehis sensitive threefurther clouddrawings ( I 939-8- I 4-I ) . washstudies,decidedly stereotyped diagrams,

CONSTABLE'S SKYSKETCHES 35I however,approaches morethe momentary,unconlposed appearance of actual clouds, and exhibitsno less meteorological truthfulness than Luke Howard's studies,althougha quartercenturyearlier. Turner (I775-I85I) also precededConstablein sky sketching,contraryto generalopinion. While the majorityof his morethan five hundredstudiesare very modest 'pencil roughs', a number are stunning water colours. None receive any notice from Badt. Turner began sketchingclouds as early as c. I796, as seen in a deftly brushed,utterly uncomposednotation of a few drifting clouds (P1. s2b). We find at least thirty studies (none published) datable before I 800, once againprecludingany influencefrommeteorological science. Moreover, John Gage has statedin conversation that the many later exampleswere made independentlyof the new science. Turner'sstudies,like Constable's, are empiricallyaccountable-the fruitof intensiveand searching first-handscrutinyand persistentsketchingof cloudy skies, though perhaps secondarilyinspired by some awarenessof earlier sky sketches. Whether Constablesaw any of Turner'sstudiesis not known,but considering Turner's furtiveness abouthis sketchbooks, this seemsunlikely. Yet, he may have heard about them.25 The talented amateur, Dr. William Crotch (I775-I847), also practised cloud sketchingbefore I800. Mr. R. B. Beckettowns a pencil study by him, dating from I799, which could almost be mistakenfor a Constablecloud drawingof a decadeor so later. As Ian Flemming-Williams pointedout in a recentarticle,26 Constablebecamewell acquaintedwith Crotchsoon afterthe latter came to London around I806, and most certainlysaw a numberof his drawings. 27 One continentalartist,Valenciennes(I7so-I8Ig), deservesmentionhere, althoughnone of his workwas knownto Constable. Among his one hundred and twenty-four open-airoil studiesin the Louvre,datingfrom I 778 to I 786, six are essentially sky sketches. Etude decielcharge' denuages (P1.s3a) showsthe surprising extentto whichValenciennescould capturethe formless, accidental look of fast-changing clouds. His approach,however,is distinguishable from
25 We know of at least two conversational mentor and subsequentfriend. Sir George encountersbetween Constable and Turner had studiedwith AlexanderCozensat Eton beforeI 82I: the academydinnersof I 8 I 3 and (I766-72) and may have pieked up some of I820, when the two sat together. Of the his teacher's eonvictions abouttheimportanee formeroccasion,Constable wrote, 'I sat next of the sky in landseape. A number of his to Turner, and opposite Mr. West and works prominentlyfeature the sky, and at Hill, near Coleorton (c. I 802- I O), Lawrence-I was a good deal entertained leastone, Cloud with Turner. I alwaysexpectedto find him is virtuallya eloudseape one that Constable what I did he is uncouthbut has a wonder- possibly saw. This is the painting whieh ful rangeof mind' (letterto his fiancee,Maria Wordsworth,to whom it was presentedby Bicknell,30June I8I3; R. B. Beckett,Op. Cit., Sir George,immortalized in the notedsonnet ii, I964, p. I IO). The acquaintancenever (eomposed I 8 I I ) beginning,'Praisedbe the Art whose subtile power eould stay / Yon warmedinto a friendship. eloud, and fix it in that gloriousshape.' Not 26 'Dr. William Crotch,' rhe Connoisseur, surprisingly, this was a favouritepoem with clix, no. 639, I965, pp. 28-32. 27 Another English amateur should be Constable,who twiee quoted from it in the cited here, the eminent patron, Sir George 'Introduction' to his book of mezzotints, Landscape, I 833. Beaumont ( I 753-I827), Constable's early English

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LOUIS HAWES

Constable's(in his maturity)by the comparatively panoramicview.28 The Hampstead skies seem like close-up studies; the beholder feels practically immersedin them. All the same, Valenciennes'ssky sketchesare the most impressiveof any both in visual truth and aesthetic appeal-before Constable's.29And once again, meteorologyplayed no part.
II. CONSTABLE S EARLY EXPERIENCE AS A WINDMILLER

A significantbut apparentlylittle known reference never cited in the present context is a statementby David Lucas, the gifted mezzo-tinterof Constable's works,concerningthe artist'syouthfulexperienceof workingin his father's windmill on East Bergholt Common, during the early I790'S. Referringto a 'blot' of this mill by Constable,Lucas writes that the artist 'workedas a Millar severalYearsand here told me that he made his earliest studies and most useful observations on atmosphericeffects'.30 If the term 'studies'means actual drawn ratherthan observational studies,as the usage possiblysuggests, then Constable, like Turner,began sky sketchingalreadyby the end of the eighteenthcentury,beforehe could ever have heardof Howard. In that case, the studies (doubtlessin pencil), have disappearedalong with most of the artist'sdrawingsbeforeI800. But even if actualsketches were not made then, Lucas's remarkconfirmsthe view that Constable'sinterest in clouds first developed in conjunctionwith his early days spent as a windmiller an important environmentalcircumstancewe cannot discount the way Badt does.
III. CONSTABLE S SKY SKETCHES BEFORE I8XI

There exista numberof skysketches by Constable datingfromthe firsttwo decades,though none are mentionedby Badt. The earliestexamplesknown to me so far are two unpublishedchalk drawingson blue paper, stylistically datableat about I806. One is pastedon the backcoverof a sketchbook in the Louvre (P1. s3c). The rather distant viewpoint and the blank zone at the bottom (sea?) recall some of Turner'searly sky drawings. The other study (P1. s3d) appearsin a unique, extra illustratedcopy of the first edition of Leslie'sbiographyof Constable( I 843), now ownedby Mr. PeterNicholsonof New York. 31 This sketchportrays cloudsexclusively, makingit the only known 'pure' cloud study datable before I8XI. Moreover,a significantdegree of
28 The British artist who most comes to to J. R. Cozens's TheCloud, similarly utilizing mind hereis Thomas Jones ( I 742-I 803) . See, the device of a dark, undiffierentiatedslice of for example, his masterfulstudy, Extensive sloping ground to establish a kind of 'orientLandscape (probablythe Vale of Pencerrig), ing' horizon, and help give a sense of scale. c. I776?, in the National Museumof Wales, Direct contact between the two painters was Cardiff. Though labelled a landscape, its possible, as both were working in Rome and breezy, cloud-richsky completelydominates its environs in I 778 and late I 782. our attention. Jones and Valenciennesmay 30 Undated letter (after I837) to a Mr. have met duringtheir stays in Rome, which Hogarth; Andrew Shirley, The Published overlappedbetween I0 October I 777 and Mezzatintsof David Lucasafterffohn Constable, II September I778; moreover, they both R.A., Oxford I 930, p. I 5 I . werein Naplesduringmuchof I 779. 31 I thank ProfessorCharles Rhyne of Reed 29 Another study, Lande sousun grandciel College for kindly informing me of the where(RF 2980) bearsa close family resemblance abouts ofthis important unpublished material.

b AlexanderCozens CollectionDenys and A

a-Constable, Study o Rlictoria and Albert M

c Constable, Study of Clouds, c. I822. London, Victoria and Albert Museum (no. 250) (p. 344)

d--Unknownartist,StudyofCloads,c. I650.
Collection Curtis 0. Baer (p. 348)

NewRochelle,

e 17 (P

Joseph

Wright,

Study

of Clouds, I

774-75.

Constable, Copy aftes Cozens, c. I 8 I 2-I 4. Lon

don, Courtauld Gallery. Lee Co]lection (p. 3493 b Turner, Study oJ Clouds,c. I 796. Lon

don, British WIusoum. Turner Bequest! xxx p. 85 (p- 35I)

b e

a
Howard, Basic (loud lypes, Carrus Cumulus, Aimbus, I 803. 7Cilloch's Phalosophical Magazine, xvii, pl. iv (p. 350) c Luke
of Art, Rogers Fund (,. 350)

a-Valenciennes, Etudede ciel charge' de nuages, c. (R-F- og I 5) (p. 35I)

I778-82.

Paris, Louvre

b Constable, Study of Clouds, I 8 I 3. Lo (no. I 2 I, p. 72 ) (p. 353)

Constable, Study of Sky,c. I806.

Paris, Louvre (R.F.

8700)

(p.

352)

d Constable, Studyof Clouds, c. I 8 Nicholson(p. 352)

_ a-Gonstable, DedhamVale, c. Gallery (no. 2663) (p. 354)

I806.

London, Tate

b Constable, TwilightSky overa Heath, C I8I2. Norwlch CollectlonSlr Edmund Bacon (p 353)
. . .

c Constable City Art Gal

d-Constable, Morning Cloud before the^Sun, c. CollectionH. H. C. Ingram (p. 353)

I806-9.

FurnersGreen, England.

e Constable, J%ear S schen Staatsgemaldes

CONSTABLE'SSKY SKETCHES

353

illusionism is evident, already surpassingthat achieved in Turner's sky sketchesof this time. Also interestingis the comparativelyrich chromatic range,includingthe use of blue chalktogetherwith a few faint touchesof red ochre and yellow, in additionto the usualblackand white. A definitelydatable example is the small but very confidentlysketched cloud, from the pocketsketchbook pencil study of a toweringcumulo-nimbus ConstableusedfromJuly to OctoberI8I 3 (P1.s3b). So dramatica cloud pile will seldom be met with in the artist'smany later studies. But what is most unusual here is that Constable,for all his commitmentto naturalness,has indulged in the age-old game of finding a face in the sky, which he subtly suggestsin the less shadowy, upper middle portion of this protean cloud. profileof a man'shead, lookingsternlyto the Therewe discovera naturalistic right, mouth downcast. The image is too well defined-to be coincidental, though it is an unobtrusiveintrusion,and not at all the raisond'etreof the cloud (in contrastto Mantegna'sintriguingdoubleimage clouds). as well as numberof the drawingsin the I 8I 3 sketchbook, A considerable in that of I8I4 (V. & A., No. I32), exhibitprominentand effectivelymanaged skiesin a way that is appreciablynew as regardshis drawings.32A few hint that Constablehad by then encounteredCozens'ssky samples, as does the study reproduced(P1.s3b).33 Especiallyrelevanthere are severaloil studiesplausiblydatable between before theSun(P1.s4d), is Alorning Clouds C. I 806 and I 8I 2. One of the earliest stylisticallyvery close to two sky sketchesin Sir EdmundBacon'scollection, datable I806-I809, and recentlypublishedby R. B. Beckett.34Alreadyskilful of variouscloud formsat severalaltitudes. As in all the is the diffierentiation artist'spre-I82I oil studies of clouds, a sweeping strip of ground stretches acrossthe bottomeighthof the sketch,just enoughto establishan horizonand offer some sense of scale as was earlier the case with Cozens'sand Valenciennes's studies (except that they utilize a more dynamic, mountainous . horizon) Another little-knownbut noteworthyearly sky sketch is EarlyMorning (P1. I5), c. I809. Again we meet an arrestingvariety of clouds floating at levels, but here they are chargedwith vivid highlight and shadow diffierent contrasts,consistentwith the low angle illumination. This is also true of TwilightSkyovera Heath(P1. s4b), c. I 8 I 2, the most dramaticearly study, featuringa flat, weirdly shaped cloud mass, strikinglysilhouettedagainst a luminous sky, and vaguely recalling certain of Cozens's sky models in a generalway (in looser,painterlyterms).35This is the only oil study,however, where a possibleconnexionwith Cozenssuggestsitself.
See particularly pp. 36 and 39 of the sketchbook and pp. 47, 52 and 8I ofthe sketchbook; all are reproduced in I84I Reynolds's catalogue. 33 See the fourth sky in Cozens's series, featuring a generically similar vertical cloud pile similar, that is, in basic cloud type rather than style of execution. Constable's eopy of this sky is reproduced by Gombrich, of. cit., P1. I48. A landscape sketch in which
32 I8I3

the sky recalls Cozens in a general way, with its unusual semi-schematized cloud formation bya River, and emphatic contours, is Windmill p. 47 of the I8I4 sketchbook. From I8I5 on, however, Constable representsthe sky entirely in his own terms. 965, lXXXi,I 34 'Constable at Epsom', Apollo, pp. I89-95. 35 See Constable's copy of the sixth sky in Cozens's set (P1. 8).

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LOUIS HAWES

While these studiesanticipatethe sky and tree-topsketchesof I82I, they from the latter by their more spacious,panoramiccloudare distinguishable studiesas well as with some of scape, a trait they share with Valenciennes's an exhaustive Turner'searlyskydrarings. This groupby no meanscomprises but shouldsuiciently indicate the I sky sketches,36 pre-I82 list of Constable's artist'sinterestand skillin sketchingcloudsin oil at least a dozenyearsbefore he commencedhis Hampsteadseries. We should also take account of the revealingextent to which Constable and finishedpicturesbeforeI 82I . sketches appliedthisinterestin his landscape Badt devotesvery little attentionto this build-upperiod,merelyciting a few handled,and worksfromthe seconddecade,whereinthe cloudsare arbitrarily of the artist'sskiesat that time. This is implyingthat they are representative far fromtrue. For brevity'ssake, I shall mentiononly fourinstancesin which cloudy skiesform not only a prominentpart of the landscapebut exhibit a notable degree of naturalness. As early as c. I806, we meet in the accomVale(P1. s4a), a sensitivelyrendered plished little 'finishedsketch',Dedham shapes, overcastsky, alreadyimpressivein its capturingof the ever-varying density and tonality of several cloud formationsfloating at differentlevels. While the sketchy style assertsthe medium, the clouds appear utterly unschematicand wholelyinspiredby observation.37 (P1.s4e))38c. I 809, also preStoke-by-Xayland The originalversionof J\fear sents a subtly painted sky filled with billowy cumulusclouds. Although its illusionismcannot quite vie with that of the later versionin London,it none the less indicates the appreciablefacility in cloud painting that Constable could achieve by the end of the firstdecade. We may speaksimilarlyabout with some of his finishedlandscapesof the followingdecade,such as Landscape farmscene made (P1.ssa). I8I5-I6, which exhibitsa commonplace Cornfield memorablechiefly by its dramaticyet fully plausible sky. It is a sky emphatically overcastby a heavy, inpenetrablecloudbank (a 'cumulo-nimbus arcus'), sombrelycontrastingwith a bright, irregularrent near the centre. This luminous,visuallymagneticarea recallsa similarsky-rentin the famous c. I 8 I 2 (V. & A., No. I o4).39 ontheStour, sketch,Barges Park(I8I6-I7) in the National Gallery, Lastly, the celebrated Wivenhoe Washington,offers a cheerful morning sky charged with the fast-moving,
36 Among those not mentioned are a numConstable's early work (through I8I 5), is the ber whose style points to some year between first to deal with it, and convincingly argues Sky (H. L. that it is the original version, datable c. I809. I 809 and I 82 I, such as Cloudy Sunset The well-known version in the London Dalton, Charlotte, N. Carolina), Stormy (E. Colquhoun, Dorchester-on-Thames) or National Gallery (no. 2649) he demonstrates (Bristol Art Gallery). Clouds Scudding is a slightly varied studio replica, datable 37 The same can be said of the sky in the partly on the basis of its fully C. I82I-22, equally advanced contemporary work, Land- mature sky style. Flatford (A. W. Bacon Collection; below scape 39 This passing preference for a bright rent on extended loan to the Birmingham Art in the sky again may possibly owe something preGallery). The picture is mistitled 'View near to Cozens cf. the six skies (nos. I0-I5) Arundel'. senting an irregular opening near the centre 38 This version in the Haus der Kunst, of the cloudscape. However, it is merely in Munich, has been strangely neglected by the choice of such a sky 'motif' that the posConstable scholars. Charles Rhyne, in con- sible debt lies, for Constable employs it in an nexion with his forthcoming catalogue of expressive way wholly diffierentfrom Cozens.

CONSTABLE'SSKY SKETCHES

355

fluffy remnantsof formercumulus clouds; and it is this wonderfullyvivid, fugitivesky, so endowedwith a senseof flux, which most generatesthe mood of freshness and airinesssuffusingthe whole scene. These four worksdemonstrate how effectivea sky-painterConstablehad become by the mid I8IO'S, at least within the limitsof the modestlyscaledcanvasesto which he confined himselfuntil I8I9. When he attemptedhis first 'six footer', TheWhite Horse (I8I9), he was not entirelysuccessful with the cloudysky, which has a heavy, rather laboured appearance. Not until TheHay Wain(I8XI), did he fully mastercloudson a large scale.40 We see, then, that Constable's interestand skillin paintingskieshad been developingfor sometime. Of coursethe I8XI-22 studiesrepresent a markedly intensifiedeffort at masteringsky phenomena. Moreover,they are revolutionary in at least two senses: (I) their intimate, close-upformat, especially those including nearbytree tops; (X)their expressiveness.However,the fact of the artist'slong-activespecialconcernwith the sky (includingconsiderable pre-I8xI cloud sketching)underminesthe argumentthat a recent encounter with meteorologypromptedthe series. We may best view the latter as the climax, albeit a prolificone, of a preoccupation with the sky and its role in landscape,which had been growingover the precedingtwo decades.
IV. TURNER S SKIES: I8Iv-I9

Even a cursorysurvey of landscapepainting in Britainduring the years will reveal, by and large, an increasedprominence (and often an increasedplausibility)in the skies. In varyingdegrees,this is true of Crome, P. Nasmyth,Francia,CopleyFielding,De Wint, Callcott,Collins,and several othersbesidesConstableand Turner. Of course,a separatearticlewould be neededto do anyjustice to this importanttendency. Here, we can only point to a few highlightsin the case of Turner,who is speciallyrelevant,as he is the only one who, threeor fouryearsbeforeConstable,made a whole seriesof sky studiesin a shortperiod albeit very roughsketches,in the main, and in thin water colour. Turner'sexhibited oil paintingsfrom the very beginning included skies that were often impressivenot only in their prominencebut also in the way they function compositionally and above all, expressively, contributingmost vitally to the intended mood of the scene. Witness,for example, the Fifth Plague of Egypt (I800), or some of the early seascapesand coastalscenes,such as Fishermen ona Lee Shore inSqually Weather (I802) or Calais Pier(I803). From Constable's point of view, however,the draluaticeffect of the skiesin various early Turners was often at the expense of naturalness.4l Turner himself,
I800-20

Constablerather extensivelyretouched I82I (and perhapslater), toningdown the highlightsin particular (letter to Fisher, 23 October; Beckett, op. cit., pp. 82-83). One wonders whetherits magnificentsky may have benefited at this time from the enhancedfacility and deepenedexpressive powerresulting from his firstintensive skysketching. Interestingly,
40

The Hay Wain in the autumn of

a number of the larger and more 'careful', pure cloud studiesof I822 begin to approach the scaleof the sky portionsof his largelandscapes. 41 HeprobablyhadinmindTurner's Benth Plague of Egypt, a popular favouriteat the Academyexhibitionof I802, when he wrote in May of that year: 'There is room enough for a naturalpainture. The great vice of the

356

LOUIS HAWES

between I806 and the late I820'S, tendedto employlessdramatized skies,with certainobviousexceptions. At times, he rathercloselyapproximated natural appearances, as in Abingdon (I809). But in this and similarworks,the skyis a comparatively secondary element,the groundformsdominating our attention. One of the relativelyfew landscapeswhereinthe sky is both as commanding and as persuasively naturalas one by Constable, is Raby Castle, exhibitedat the Royal Academy in I8I8 (P1. ssd). This work, indeed, offiers probablythe most illusionisticsky found in any of Turner'slarge pictures,and may well have had a certainimpact on Corlstable, invitinghim to considerthe sky on a more monumentalscale and to give it still greaterluminosity. I suspectthat its illusionismowes somethingto Turner'sonly intensivephase of sky sketching, carriedout shortlybeforehe painted this landscape. AlthoughTurnermade occasionalsleystudiesthroughoutmost of his life, in I8I7 or early I8I8, he felt a need to fill a whole sketchbook with a seriesor 'repertory' of sixty-fiveskies.42Many of these are very slight and free colour washes,in which the roughlyhinted cloudshave little of the veracityof Constable's studies.43 Several, on the other hand, are more controlled, deftly sketchedimpressions of sunriseand sunsetskies (P1.ssb). Unlike Constable's studies,the emphasis is on light and colour,ratherthan clouds. The latterare often sparse,and seem selectedmainly to diversifythe light effiect,as well as to provideaccentsof warmcolour. It is as thoughTurnerviewedthe sky as a sort of infinitecolour-lightorgan,providinga perpetualperformance of endlesslyvaried, enchantingeffects. Anotherexceptional,'finished'study, again painted on slightlydamp paper, is the delicatelyrenderedcumuluscloud on page xxv, well reproducedin colour in Martin Butlin's 7Murner Watercolours (pl. ). Here for once,44the artisthas perfectlycapturedthe soft textureand hoveringlightnessof a cloud. Of particularinterest are two sequencesof studies. One is at the very beginningof the sketchbook(pp. -7), showingsix phases of a passingrain cloud, sketchedin quick succession. The other (pp. 38-40) exhibits three stagesof either a sunriseor sunset.45I know of no comparablesequencesby any earlieror contemporary artists,not even Constable,despite his at least equal interestin weatheras a dynamicprocess.46But did Constable have any awarenessof these studiesor any others by Turner? As alreadystated, the latter'shabitual reluctanceto sllow his sketchbooks to anyone makes it unlikelythat Constableevercaughta glimpseof them. However,wordof such a collectionof skiesmighthave reachedhim possiblyevenfromTurnerhimself during their second known extendedconversation at the academy dinner of I820, when they were table mates. One finds Turner applyinghis heightenedpowersof sky painting in the
present day is bravura, an attempt at something beyond the truth Fashion always had, & will have its day but Truth(in all things)only will last and can havejust claims on posterity'(Beckett,Correspondence, op. cit., ii,I964,p. 32). 42 T. B., clviii,British Museum PrintRoom. 43 Two typicalexamples are reproduced in JackLindsay's i. M. W. Turner, LondonI966, Pls. 28-X9. 44 None of the othersketches exclusively of cloudsare nearlyas illusionistic. 45 I hope to reproduce thesesequences in a futurearticleon Turner's skysketches. 46A possiblereason for this was his use, normally,of the somewhat'slower'medium of oil, and/orhis tendencyto paint morefullbodied,pictoriallyself-sufficient skyscapes.

b Turner, Study of a sunset sky, c. I 8 I 7- I 8. London, BritishMuseum, Turner Bequest,clviii, p. 4o (p. 356)

c-Turner, Tate Galler a-Constable, Landscape with C,or?/ield, c. I 8 I 5- I 6. Manchester,City Art Gallery (no. I408) (p. 354)

cl-Turner, RabyCastle, I 8 I 8. Baltimore The Walters Art Gallery(p. 356)

e-Constable, Hampstead Heath c. Museum(p. 360)

CONSTABLE'S SKYSKETCHES 357 seriesof finishedwatercolours of Rhine views painted late in I8I7, as well as the equally impressivegroup of watercoloursof Britishscenes executed the followingyear. All thesewereboughtby WalterFawkesand exhibitedin I 8 I 9 at his London residence,and doubtlesswere seen by Constable. One of the mostnoteworthy, fromthe standpointof the sky,is SIayence and Sastel(I 8I 7) 47 in which the cloudsare very closein style to the abovecited studyon page xxv of the skiessketchbook.48 The same year, I8I9, Turner exhibitedat the Royal Academya marine containing the most imposing sky he ever attempted in a large canvas: Entrance of theMeuse49 (P1.ssc). The rich arrayof cloud formsare diversified to an unprecedentedextent, providinga kind of anthologyof his favourite kindsof clouds and perhapsfor this reasondoes not resemblenatureto the extent we found in Raby Castle.As LawrenceGowing has remarkedin conversation,this sky marksthe firstbeginningsof 'the phantasmagorical sky' in Turner'sart. But only the beginnings, for comparedwith the overtlyfantastic skiesinJohn Martin's'machines', such as fAeFallofBabylon (exhibitedearlier the same year at the BritishInstitution),Turner'ssky here is still quite within the realm of plausibility. For Constable,though,Raby Castle and some of the watercoloursmade for Fawkes would have won more admirationfor their skies. On the otherhand, he probablypreferred the grandcloudscapeirl The Meuse to the other most imposing sky among the landscapesat the I8I9 exhibition:J. J. Chalon's View of Hastings (V. & A., No. 234) in which the storm effect is rather forced.50 One wonderswhether these marinesstimulated any general discussionamong landscapepaintersabout the problemof representing a powerful,dynamicsky on a large scale, without its becoming unduly dominating.5l Constable doesnot mentiontheseworksin his letters,but then his surviving correspondence happensto be rathersparsein the years I8I7-I9. Surelyhe could not help but feel to someextentthe combinedimpactof the threepublic displaysof Turner'swork this year (totallingten large oils and over seventy finishedwatercolours).52In any case, for the next severalyears it was suddenly Constable's large exhibited landscapes which presented the most
47 For a fine colour reproduction, see paintingof a formidable skyscapefor a large Butlin,op.cit., P1.5. marine. Then too, might he also have felt a 48 Another notable example aXording a furtherchallengeto outdo his friendlyrival, particularly impressive sky is Fish Market on Callcott,whose Mouth of the Tyne,exhibited an EnglishCoast( I 8 I 8), P1. 28 in A. J. Fin- the previous year,drewhigh praise ? berg's Turner's Water-Colours at Farnley Hall, 51 At least five contemporary journals inLondon I 9 I 2. cludedbrieSnotices of Turner's painting,two 49 The full title reads:Entrance of theMeuse: of them touchingon the sky. TheExaminer Orange Merchant ontheBargoingtoPieces; Brill (I I July I8I9) noted the squallysky, where Church bearing S.E. by S., Masenslays E. by S. the forms of clouds are in unusual diverse Brill, incidentally,was the birthplaceof the directions'(p. 444). More enthusiastic,The brilliant I 7th-centuryDutch admiral, Van Literary Gazette remarkedthat 'the sea and Tromp,a favourite heroof Turner. sky possessed some of the noblest powersof 50 An interesting side query is whether painting' (quotedby A. J. Finberg, TheLife Turner, whose well-known competitiveness of 7. M. W. Turner, London I939, p. 259). helpedto motivatea numberof his exhibited 52 The third exhibition in addition to works, may here have been additionally Fawkes's and the academy's wasat SirJohn drivenby a desireto outstripChalonin the Leicester'stown house, and included eight

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LOUIS HAWES

Hastings with a comparable work,and Turnerdid not send anotheroil to the academywith a sky approaching the sublimepower and scale of that in The Meuse until the later I820'S.
V. THE ENVIRONMENT OF HAMPSTEAD HEATH

impressiveskies (as well as the most 'real'). Chalon never followed up his

Another factor relevant here is the nature of HampsteadHeath, where Constablepainted his two majorseriesof skies. A hilly, open, windy region offeringfewer objectsof 'endearingassociations' than did his native Suffolk, it very conceivablyinduced the artist to considerstill more than previously the crucial role that weather circumstances can play in landscapepainting. GrahamReynoldsalsoseesthislocaleas speciallyconduciveto facilitating such activity. '[Constable] found the rising ground at Hampstead admirably adapted for the seizing of transientappearances in the sky. From where he sat often no doubtin the gardenof his house the groundfell away fromhis feet and he could see the sky over and throughbushes,treesand the chimney pots of neighbouringcottages.'53Moreover,R. B. Beckett,while he enthusiasticallysupportsBadt's thesis, writes similarlyabout this region. 'It provides a perfect"observatory" for meteorological phenomena,and was so used by Van de Velde over IOO years beforefor sky studies.... All day long the clouds(especially in September) roll overlike non-captiveballoonsso that one can just lie on the grassand watch them with uninterrupted enjoyment.'54
VI. CRITICISMOF THE SKY IN CONSTABLE S EXHIBITED WORKS: I8I9-2 I

Still anotherincentivefor the Hampsteadstudiesis the criticismdirected at the skies in some of Constable'ssizeable, exhibited pictures. The artist himselfalludes to this in his famousletter on skying (23 October I82I). 'I have often been advisedto considermy Sky as a "White Sheet dravwn behind the Objects"-Certainly if the Sky is obtrusive (as mine are) it is bad, but if they are evaded (as mine are not) it is worse.'55 This implied criticismprobably acted as a furtherprod for engagingin an extendedbout of sky sketching,for Constablewas painfully sensitive to any adverse comment. Furthermore, contemporary journal criticismon at least two occasionsfound fault with his skies,shortlybeforehe began his specialskyingcampaign. The firstconcerns an untracedlandscape,A Mill, exhibited at the BritishInstitutionin I8I9. TheJew Monthly llZIagazine complainedthat 'the sky was heavy in parts and somewhatdeficientin cleanness'.56Two yearslater, the Repository of theArts, in its otherwiselaudatoryreview of TheHay Wain(I82I), claimed that the
early landscapes by Turner (dating I799in the Minories, Colchester. The text given I809; listed in Finberg, op. cit., p. 478). Four by Leslie (ed. cit.) omits some of the underof these included impressive skies, particu- liningsand altersthepunction. larly Sun risingthrough Vapour (I807; London, 56 W. T. Whitley, Art andArtistsin England N.G., no 479) * I 80F20, London I 928, p. 299. This picture 63 Op. cit., p. 26. iS possibly reflected in David Lucas's mezzo54 A letter to the writer, 29 March I965. tint, A Mill, published in I830 (Shirley, Op. 55 To Fisher; from the original letter, now cit., P1. v).

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57 A noteworthy 'darkcloudsimparttoo muchof theirsombrehue to his trees'. was relayedin a letter piece of unpublishedcriticism,made in conversation, from Fisher, 26 SeptemberI82I, who reportedthat a 'grand critical party' Mill (I820), the artist'ssecond had insistentlyobjectedto the sky in Stratford it wastheprominence whichFisherhad recentlybought. Apparently six-footer of the sky which disturbedthe party, as Fisher says he 'silencedthem' by and a Van der Neer, where the bringingout 'two printsfrom Wouvermans whole stresswas laid on the sky'.58 Of coursesuch criticismby itselfmay not that producednumerous adequateprodfor an undertaking offera sufficiently finishedstudieswhich went beyond 'correctiveexercises';yet, taken together it providesan added incentive, as well as with the precedingconsiderations, anotherclue (along with that cited in section V) as to why the studieswere made when they were. I have so far found no negative commentson Constable'sskiesdating beforeI8I9. VII. CONSTABLE S LETTER ON THE CRUCIAL ROLE OF THE SKY IN LANDSCAPE

about the A furtherpertinentfactor is Constable'smounting cconviction decisive effect that the sky has in any landscapepainting, a convictionthat letter of 23 October I82I. 'That Landscape burstforth in his extraordinary painterwho does not make his skiesa very materialpart of his compositionneglects to avail himself of one of his greatest aids. Sir Joshua Reynolds speaking of the "Landscape"of Titian & Salvator & Claude says "Even Subject".... The sky must and alwaysshall with the tosympathise seem skies their with me makean effectualpart of the composition. it will be difficultto name of note" the standard a class of Landscape in which the sky is not the "key of light of sentiment"....The sky is the source "Scale"-and the chief "Organ in nature and governseverything.... Their difficultyin painting both as to compositionand Executionis very great . becausewith all their brilliancy or be hardlythoughtabout and consequence they oughtnot to comeforward do not in a picture any morethan extremedistancesare But theseremarks or what the painters call accidental Effects of Skyapply to phenomenon because they always attract particularly.... I know very well what I am about . & that my skieshave not been neglectedthoughthey oftenhave failed in execution and often no doubt from over anxiety about them which alone will destroythat Easy appearancewhich naturealwayshas in all her 59 movements.' ratherthan skystudies, While Constablerefershereto completelandscapes the general relevancefor the latter is obvious; indeed, these reflectionsimmediatelyfollowhis remarkaboutdoing 'a good deal of skying',and probably with that activity. The letter also states,as we saw in conjunction crystallized in the precedingsection,what he regardedas a particularchallenge:to give the sky its due prominencewithout its becoming 'obtrusive'. This, on the otherhand, is hardlya reasonformakingthe 'pure'cloudstudiesthe following year, for inasmuch as they deal exclusivelywith the sky, the problem of he saysnothinghere about achieving doesnot apply. Curiously, obtrusiveness letter,op. cit. the original 59 From p. 367. I8XI), iX (nd series, 57 Vo.
68

op. cit., pp. Beckett,

80-8I.

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greatervisual truth, which would seem the chief impetusbehind the studies, the makingof which, in any case, could not help but increasehis skill in sky painting. In view of his reverentialardour for 'truth to nature', so often reiteratedelsewherein his letters and lectures,we may justifiablyinfer that thisaim constituted a majorpartof his conscious motivation,at leastinitially. 60 On the otherhand, thereremainsthe fact that in The HayWain and a few smallerlandscapes,he had alreadyachieveda remarkable naturalismin the skies shortlybefore launchinghis skyingcampaignlate in I82I. This is well evident in Hampstead Heath: the'SaltBox'in theDistance, I8I9 (Tate Gallery, No. I 236) and Upper Heath, Hampstead, near theSand Pits,c. I820 (Fitzwilliam Museum). The main differencebetweentheir skiesand those in worksafter I822 iS that in the latter the clouds are more stronglymodelled and often present a more dramatic appearance. Constable'stwo spells of intensive skyingdid not resultin his conspicuously excellingthe alreadyhigh degreeof naturalismmanifestin the skies of several picturesdating I8Ig-2I.6l This suggeststhe possibilitythat he endedup paintingskiesout of sheerfascination (or obsession)with such phenomena. That is, by I822 he may have begun sketchingcloudswithoutany definiteulteriormotive, and perhapshave come to look upon his studies (privately)as end products,enjoyablefor themselves, thoughwell awarethat the publicwouldnot acceptthem as such. In his case, I do not feel that such a view merely projectsa twentieth-century attitude. Certainlyhe made more cloud studiesthan were necessary for improvinghis skill. Moreover,those of I822 are generallymuch more 'finished'than any of his sketch-models for landscapes. In other words, Constablemay initially have undertaken his Hampsteadseriespartlyas practiceexercises, made with a view to betteringhis skill and to amassinga repertoryof particularcloud effiects which might help to stimulatehis conceptionand executionof skiesin studiolandscapes. But at somepoint his sky sketchingmay well have become an autonomous activity.
VIII. ART THEORY

Lastly, several notable writingson landscapeavailableto Constableemphasizethe desirabilityof sketchingskiesin the open air. The earliestis the pioneering chapteron landscape in RogerDe Piles'sPrinciples ofPainting (I 708; Engl.tr., I 7I 5), whichincludesa separatesectionon clouds,urgingthe student to sketch'effectsof the skyin the severaltimesofthe day, andseasons ofthe year
60 The view, sometimes expressed, that Constable wantedto build up a collectionof sketch-models to adapt in his studio landscapes,conflicts with the fact that none of the skies in these are derived from his studies. True, the latter probablyprovideda certain amountof generalinspiration as well as convenient standardsof naturalness. 61 Probably the mostsubtlyillusionistic sky found in his entire oeuvres appearsin HampsteadHeath (Pl. sse), which Reynoldsdated C. I 820-30 in his I 960 catalogueand c. I 820 in his 1965monograph. To my eye, c. I822

is the mostplausible dating,on the grounds of style; moreover, I agreewith Reynolds's suggestion (in I960) that this work may be the 'Green HigAgate' mentionedin a letter by the artist,70ctoberI822. Inanycase,thecloud formsapproximate the look of actual clouds to a degree unequalledelsewherein art, in my estimation. On the other hand, this sky lacks some of the compelling, expressive vitalityofthe skiesin TheHay Wain, TheLock (I824), Dedham Vale (I828) and other large picturesof the I 820'S.

CONSTABLE'SSKY SKETCHES

36I

and stormy of clouds, both irl serene,thunderingn in the variousdispositions very likely he this treatise, to refer not does weather'.62Although Constable of art reader an avid being work, a so standard with had some familiarity as Gilpin, William century, of the end the towards Secondly, literature.63 river Thames on the 'skoying' Velde's Van der younger noted, endorsedthe which (I792),64 . . . Landscape in his celebrated ThreeEssayson Picturesque Constablealmostcertainlyknew.65 In I793, the engraver,CharlesTaylor, publishedanonymouslyhis comMagazine. This contained a prehensiveillustrated treatisenThe Landscate of actualclouds,especiallytheir study close advising sky, the on section special he directsour attention writer, earlier any than More tone. and density shape, of one compositions a thousand 'occasion which clouds, of to the movements different pursue often and heights at different are they and as others; against courses,they introducean infinite variety into the moving picture'.66 In a sky sketching. 'It is evidentthat the recommends later section,he specifically require distinct and carefulstudy: each component parts of a picture may . . . the in the evening at rvight noon morning-at the skyforinstance in a their others, against of one formsof the clouds,their colours,the composition
62 p. I 48 ( I 743 edn.) . The contemporary on theorist,Gerardde Lairesse,also remarks skies in his widely read Art of Psinting, Amsterdam I 707; Eng. tr., London I 738, confininghimself, however, to their role in landscapes Worthnothing,anyway, lSnished valuehe allotsthe skyis the unprecedented beyond what even De Piles granted. 'Does not the Sky most adorn and invigorate a Lanskip,and makeit look agreeable?. . . Is a beautifulSky . . . so easily to be painted? thin driving Is it not moreartfulto represent Cloudsthan a flat Ground?. . . A beautiful Sky is a Proof of a good master' (p. 289). Certainly Gonstable would have assented mostheartily,had he readthis (not unlikely). list of booksin Constable's 63 A three-page art library,togetherwith thosementionedin op.cit., typescript, letters,appearsin Beckett's xv, Appendix I. For a discussionof the with and partial artist'sextensivefamiliarity indebtednessto earlier art theory, see my on Wrztings doctoral dissertation)Constsble's Art,PrincetonI963, chs. i-ii. 64 p. 34. In his didactic poem on landscape, appended to the essays, he recommends cloud observation, but without sketches. '. . . markeach floating mentioning cloud: its form,/ Its variedcolour;and what massof shade/ It givesthe scenebelow,pregnant with change / Perpetual. . .' (p. 3). In the crucialrole certainof his Eours he stresses playedby the sky,and in fact was amongthe first to emphasizehow its light and colour 24

and charac(dependingon the arrangement ter of the cloudsas well as on the time of day) determines the whole chiaroscuro effect, tonality and mood of a landscape. For example,'He who should see any one scene affectedby a loweringsky, as it is differently or a brightone, might probablysee two very see a landscapes.... We sometimes different variationof light alter the whole disposition of a landscape'(Lake Tour, I786, i, p. Vii; see also his ScottishTour, I 789, ii, pp. 7-9)* who This was a convictiondearto Constable, applied it much more extensivelyand rethan Gilpinever conceived. sourcefully J. H. Pott, in his contemporary, 65 Gilpin's anonymouslypublished Esssy on Landscape, I782, alludesbrieflyto the beautiesthat the landscape Englishskyholdsfor the observant painter,noting especiallythe rich varietyof 'action. . . seen in the rolling of the clouds, . . . which is nearly unknownto the placid southernhemisphere'(p. 56). There is no however,to sky sketching. reference, Regardingthe myriad formsof 66 p. 86. as it were, how 'sometimes, clouds,he remarks heavyladen,and scarceable to remainin the air, they appear like solid masses of condensation; their skirts appear hard against their neighbours.... Sometimesthey seem truly the fleecy clouds, wanton in every imaginary shape, and float in transparent thinness; at other times, they speckle the heavens and distribute themselvesin airy the celestialexpanse'(p. 86). filmsthroughout

3 )2

LOUIS HAWES

mannerof moving&c. &c. and the mannerof light breaking throughthem, or reflectingon them.'67 CertainlyConstable would have provedmostreceptive to suchstatements, had he readthem but thisis not known. Thoughobscure today, this treatise was apparentlyin some demand in Constable'stime, reappearing prominentlyas volume iii of Taylor'sthen widely knownArtists' Repository &9 Enfyclopedicl of theFineArts(new edn., I808; I8I3). Closerin time to Constable'sHampsteadstudieswas the appearanceof Henry Richter's dialogue, Daylight,A Recent Discovery in theArt of Painting (I 8I 7).68 In the courseof the conversation, involvingfive Flemishand Dutch old masters and three contemporaryEnglish painters,69 Albert Cuyp enthusiastically recommends that the art student make 'genuinestudies of light andcolour taken faithfullyfrom J%ature itself, outof doors, under all its various aspects'.70While the initial phraseis a little ambiguous,its stated open-air context suggestsit would include sky sketchesor at least 'sky illumination studies',such as some of Constable'sand many of Turner'sskiesmight well be called (in which the emphasisis more on colourand light values than on clouds).7l We do not know whether the artist was acquainted with this provocativedialogue,but someformof contactseemsto me likely. Certainly the title is one which would have caught his eye.72 After about I820, the advocacy of sky sketching (at least in pencil or water-colour)is no longer a rarity in art theory; even FrancisNicholson's predominantlyconservativetreatise, Drawingand PaintingLandscape from J%ature, in Water Colours (I820), brieflycommendsthe practice. 'Studiesofthe stemsof trees,massesof rock, brokenground,folliage,sky, water,&c. will be more conducivetowardsimprovementthan the delineationof tlle whole of generalsubjects,independentof the great use to be made of them on future occasions. ..'*73 No theorist,however,advised a sky sketchingprogramme remotelyapproachingthe intensiveness of Constable's. Nor did any provide significantpractical remarkson matters of execution. At most, the above sourceswould simplyhave reinforced the artist'slively interestin cloudsand cloud sketching.74But neitherwould Howard'snor Forster's descriptions of the basic cloud types have done substantially more than this, if as much.
landscape painter who cin particular distinguishesthe age by the sublimity of his genius'(p. 9). 72 A somewhat earlierpublication touching on this problem of dealing with the colour and light values of skies is William Oram's The Art of Colouring in Landscape Psinting, London I 8 I 0, written c. I 775, ch. v, 'On Painting Skies'. The author, however, restrictshimselfto detailedcolourinstructions, and the contextpertainsto finishedpictures. More interestingis an engraved schematic cloudscape with colournotes. 73 P. 36 (2nd edn., I823). 70 p. IO. 74 Much the same appliesto the wealth of to the sky and cloudsin romantic 71 Turner is the one modern artist pre- references sumably alluded to by the referenceto a poetryand proseavailableto Constable.
67 p. I I2. In the sectionon CDistances') the autilorunderscores the sky'sfar-reaching importanceas 'thesourceof light'in a landscape -a tenet Constable particularly held high. 68 This dialogue, minus its voluminous notes, had come out the previous year in Ackerman's Repository of theArts,ii) 2nd series, I 8 I 6, pp. 269-77. 69 The participants included: Teniers) Rubens,Van Dyck, Rembrandt,Cuyp, and threemoderns a reactionary portrait painter (thedevil'sadvocateofthe dialogue),a young art student (thepleinsir enthusiast),and the author.

CONSTABLE'S SKYSKETCHES 363 Whenall is said,Badt'stheory,howeverthought-provoking and influential, is untenable. I have stressed factorswhich eithereludedBadtor wererejected in favourof the single 'causal'stimulushe isolates. Regardingthe latter, the evidence warrants our concluding that a familiarity with contemporary meteorologywas neithera pre-requisite for Constable's skyingnor one of the more importantlyoperativeof severalknown or probablemotivatingfactors. Although the painter had likely seen or heard about Howard'sterminology by I82I, there are no groundsfor believingthat such contact did more than reaffirm and perhapsconcentrate an alreadyactiveinterest. In summary,I list the followingas the factorsmostrelevantto Constable's Hampsteadseriesof skysketching: I Life-long Dedication toOpen-air Sketching-including sporadicskysketching from I806 (if not earlier) . The Hampsteadseriesfallswithin the artist's most intensivephase of outdooroil sketching:I820-25. II Early Experience as a Windmiller when he made his 'earlieststudiesand . . . observations'. III Some Awareness of Earlier SkySketches whether by 'Claude', Van der Velde the Younger,A. Cozens,J. R. Cozens,Joseph AVright, William Crotchor Turner. IV Surner's Skies:I8I7-I9 includingthe unprecedentedly extensiveseries of sixty-fivewatercolour studiesin the 'Skies'sketchbook of c. I8I7-I8, and the notableskyscapes in two large oil paintings:Raby Castle (I8I8) and Entrance tothe Meuse (I 8 I 9) . V fAe Environment of Hampstead Heath a 'natural observatory',and the locality ofthe I82I-22 sky series. (Artistfirstpaintsthere in I8I9.) VI Criticism of theSkyin Certain Exhibited Works: I8I9-2I as indicated in two letters of I82I and by remarksin two criticaljournals,respecting 7Che Mill (I 8 I 9), Stratford Mill (I 820) and The HayWain (I 82 I ) . VII Convictions about theCrucial Role of tAle Skyin Landscape and itsDifMiculties of Execution statedin a letterof I 82 I (in the contextof 'skying') . VIII Art 7Cheory passagesadvocating on-the-spotsky sketching,in widely availabletreatisesby De Piles, Gilpin, Taylor and Richter. Possible Indirect Relevance: Some awareness of contemporary meteorological classifications, gainedsome time beforeI836 via Thomas Forster's book ( I 8 I 3), a morepalatablestudythan Howard'sforbidding two-volume work( I8I8-20), the greaterpartof whichcomprises tedious tabulations. Certainof the above (IV-VI) concernmore the immediate,occasioning stimulifor the Hampsteadskies,while others (I-III) denote the fundamental preparatoryconditions. No one of these factors, taken alone, adequately accountsfor the studies;but taken togetherand seen as convergingstimuli,I believe they bring us appreciablycloserto an understanding of how and why Constable'sdazzling eruptionof sky sketchescame about. I have given priority to empirical and environmentalconsiderations, allottinga more modest,secondaryrole to theoreticalarldconceptualstimuli (whether art theory or meteorologicalscience). This is not to deny that conceptualsourcescan play an importantrole in an ar-tist's practice. The

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point here is that with Constable'scloud studies, existingevidence does not justify our grantingsuch sourcesa decisive, 'causal'role, as Badt claims for meteorology. At most, we are warrantedin viewing the latter as a supplementary, reaffirmingstimulus. The balance of evidence argues that the principal factor was the artist's zealous persistencein on-the-spot, concentratedobservationand repeatedoil sketchingof one type of phenomena overan extendedperiod. This procedure was a logical,specialized application of his habitual practice of outdoor landscape sketching, a progressively importantactivitysince I802, climaxingin the years I820-25. The above conclusionshave broader implications worth touching on briefly. Contraryto a basic convictionof Wolfflinand numerouslater art historians,Constable'scloud studies (and quite a few landscape sketches) demonstratethat art need not always owe more to other art than to fresh observationof nature. Certainlyone would be hard pressedto single out a 'model' for any of the I82I-22 studies. The painter'sextensivefamiliarity with past landscapeconventionsdoes not here appear a determiningfactor, but rather seems temporarilysubmergedby the immediate experienceof first-hand observation and the processof rapidoil sketching.75 Thanksto this, in part, the clouds have a uniquely compellingquality, an almost uncanny immediacy,setting them apart from all earlierstudies. I do not mean here sheerobjectivefidelity,for at the same time, they seem more essentially'real' than any photographs I haveseen,even thoughthey areinevitablylessliterally accurate.76Most are vigorouslypainted, revealinga delight in the mediurn, and endowingthem with an expressive vitality that makesthem all the more vivid and 'alive' withoutany sacrifice of theirsenseof naturalness.Constable here, as in his best landscapesketches,succeedsin reconcilingtwo potentially
75 A psychologicalfactor conducing this to actual appearances, notably: Trees at relative emancipation from tradition was Hampstead: ThePathto theChurch, I82I, and Constable's 'Wordsworthian' hyper-receptive- Water-meadows nearSalisbury, I829 (V. & A., ness to the visible world. His writingscon- nos. 223 and 32I). As Sir KennethClarkhas firm (as his sketches suggest)this capacityfor observed,these works 'show the most com'direct',mlnimallybiasednatureexperience. plete acceptance of all the facts of vision Certainfavouritescenes, as it were, flooded whichhas everbeen madeart' (Landscape Into his consciousness, virtuallysubmerging mem- Art, London I 949, p. 77). Constable's oriesof pictures, if only temporarily.Graham achieving this unprecedentedlevel of illuReynolds also notes this 'enrapt' mode of sionismchallengesthe widely held view that viewing and feeling nature: 'When working traditionalways dominatesboth vision and in the open air, in front of the motif, Con- representation,suggesting instead, a more stablewas in a state of heightenedconscious- even give-and-take at times,with the impact ness,rapt in a speciesof hypnoticvision.... of freshexperience once in a while dominant. This trance-likestate gave rapidity to his 76 The best corpus of photographs is the graspof the scenebeforehim, and unityto his AbridgedInternational Cloud Atlas (World visual apperception of it' ( I 965 monograph, Meteorological Organization, Geneva I956). Op. Cit., p. 90). The characteristic qualitiesof A mosthelpful,up-to-date, shortintroduction hisoil sketches theirfresh,outdoor'lookand to the subjectis the bookby F. L. Ludlamand feel', their spontaneity and immediacy- R. S. Scorer, Cloud Study:A Pictorial Guide, would appearto owe most to this 'romantic- London I 959. Also useful is the succinct naturalist' response to nature. Granted, when booklet published by the British Meteorowe turnto his finishedlandscapes, tradition is logical Office, Cloud Types for Observers, Lonobviously operative. And yet, a few exhibita don I962. really phenomenaldegree of approximation

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divergent aims:objective portrayal and expressive emphasis.His passionate regard for 'truthto nature' and his equallyardentconcern for 'thepoetryof the art'fruitfully unitein his bestmoments, givingbirthto a singular lyrical naturalism.