“It’s hard to imagine a landscape in which the sky does not play a major role, it determines the scale of the landscape and best conveys the atmosphere of the scene.” The sky in nature serves as a natural source of light and therefore defines everything else, “Constable wrote to D. Fischer. His sketch “Sunset in Hampstead, a view of Harrow” in a remarkable way illustrates this idea. In an effort to better understand the “rainy charm” of England, Constable wrote a series of sketches of the cloudy sky.
One of them, “Cirrus clouds,” is shown at the top. Constable, of course, was not the only landscape painter who wrote such sketches, but few could compare with him in the thoroughness and scrupulousness of their execution. On the reverse side of the “cloud” sketch, the artist made a record, reporting on where, when and under what conditions the etude was written. For example: “September 5, 1822, 10 am A view to the southeast, with a strong west wind.” Very bright, light gray clouds quickly run along the yellow background, occupying almost half of the sky. “