La science des nuages : entre représentation artistique et phénomène météorologique

Abstract

The Science of Clouds : Between Artistic Representation and Meteorological Phenomenon The cloud motif appears throughout the history of European painting. The present article is a study of the significance of clouds in 19th-century painting and more precisely in John Constable’s work, during a period of a growing interest in meteorology, at the time of its beginnings. As weather-related observations became more and more frequent, artists such as Constable participated in the phenomenon in which society as a whole developed a passion for weather reports. He was thus a pioneer and especially a paragon of a larger movement at the junction of science, philosophy and aesthetics. Indeed, a deliberate combination of picturesque rendering and objective representation associated to depict real weather phenomena can be observed in his work. The painter was familiar with Luke Howard’s classification (Essay on the Modifications of Clouds, 1803) either first or second hand. Moreover he owned an edition by the astronomer Thomas Forster (Researches about Atmospheric Phenomena, 1812) which he had annotated himself. It is therefore the authors’ goal to reconsider the work of this painter who hoped to create “a natural history of skies” by studying his paintings within the context of the rising science of meteorology during the 19th century.