In almost every landscape painting, clouds will play an important part. There are exceptions, of course: a cloudless blue sky makes a summer day extremely pleasant, even if it lacks artistic interest, and when the sky takes up only a tiny part of the painting, a simple, often cloudless sky avoids any conflict of interest with the main focus.
In most cases, however, a cloudy sky is integral to adding interest to a landscape painting. Two of Britain’s most famous painters, John Constable and JMW Turner, were reputedly great rivals in their lifetime and although their styles were clearly different, both definitely understood the value of a dramatic sky in a painting. Late Constable, an exhibition of the former artist’s later work, is currently on show at London’s Royal Academy…
