DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

Constable's Skies

Paintings and Sketches by John Constable

Mark Evans author

Format:Hardback

Publisher:Thames & Hudson Ltd

Published:26th Jul '18

Should be back in stock very soon

Constable's Skies cover

A beautifully designed gift book devoted to John Constable’s studies of skies

John Constable is one of the greatest painters of the English weather. His depictions of the sky are essential components of all his landscape paintings, from famous works such as The Hay Wain and Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows to his numerous cloud studies painted on Hampstead Heath, culminating in paintings in which the landscape beneath the ever-changing sky is completely absent.

Constable kept a weather diary and was endlessly fascinated by the sky. In a letter written in 1821 to friend John Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury, Constable commented, ‘That landscape painter who does not make his skies a very material part of his composition, neglects to avail himself of one of his greatest aids ... It will be difficult to name a class of landscape in which the sky is not the key note, the standard of scale, and the chief organ of sentiment.’

Written by Mark Evans, a leading authority on the work of John Constable, Constable’s Skies captures the artist’s fascination with the sky and brings together his depictions of the English weather from throughout his career. It will appeal to a broad readership of museum visitors and art lovers, as well as practising landscape painters keen to learn new skills by studying the work of one of the most enduringly popular English artists of all time.

'An inspiring read' - The Lady
'There is plenty here to delight' - Mature Times
'Collates the artist's cloud studies with the weather reports for the day they were done … The effect is like a time machine' - The Spectator
'Gorgeous' - People’s Friend

ISBN: 9780500480328

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 420g

144 pages