Plein air. From Corot to Monet: Plein air painting in England (1800-33)

As early as 1802, John Constable followed their example, particularly in his native Stour Valley. In 1810, invited by his aunt Martha Smith, the artist went to Nayland to work on the altarpiece of the village church. He produced three audacious oil studies titled "Stoke-by-Nayland", sketched in broad strokes with an innovative style. This is the first version; the other two are kept at Tate Britain and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. In it, he does not yet attempt to convey a fleeting impression, but rather aims to express his feelings towards nature. These studies constituted a repertoire of motifs which allowed him to fully recompose his paintings later in the studio.

His contemporary Joseph Mallord William Turner only worked directly from the motif occasionally. Whether painting in oil or in watercolour, he preferred to compose his work in the studio. In 1805, he began to explore the Thames and its tributary the Wey. He produced a set of eighteen studies painted outdoors in oil and with quick strokes (London, Tate).

In September 1821, in a letter addressed to John Fisher, Constable specifies: "I have done some studies, carried further than I have yet done any, particularly a natural (but highly elegant) group of trees, ashes, elms, and oak &c – which will be of quite as much service as if I had bought the field and hedge row, which contains them. I have likewise made many skies and effects... We have had noble clouds & effects of light & dark & colour, as is always the case in such seasons as the present."

Many of his sketches feature a note on the reverse indicating the date and time of their creation and the weather conditions at that time. On the back of this study, the artist wrote "cirrus", displaying his knowledge. Constable had a copy of Thomas Forster's work, "Researches about Atmospheric Phenomena" (1815), which he annotated extensively.

De 1824 à 1828, Constable peint une série d’esquisses sur la côte, près de Brighton. Il est tout particulièrement fasciné par les splendeurs de la mer, les brisants et le ciel. Ses compositions reposent sur une ligne d’horizon placée très bas qui magnifient ainsi la violence des ciels de tempête. Ici, le ciel occupe les deux tiers du tableau, seul à gauche un voilier semble perdu dans cette immensité.

With a palette reduced to cold, almost monochrome tones, lit up by the red and white dashes of the small figures in the foreground, Constable conveys the darkness and the effect of the wind which heralds the storm.