Ink and watercolour on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Art Fund
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/samuel-palmer-411" aria-label="More by Samuel Palmer" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Samuel Palmer</a>
Bright Cloud
Presented by Hugh Blaker through the Art Fund 1917
actions: postures and motions
adults
agriculture and fishing
animals: mammals
cloud
herdsman / herdswoman
herdsman / herdswoman, shepherd / shepherdess
hill
landscape
man
people
reclining
sheep
weather
woman
wooded
work and occupations
<p>Palmer studied clouds for their picturesque qualities. Unlike the artist John Constable he did not go 'skying' as a way of capturing particular meteorological effects which could then be used to inform the overall mood of his landscape paintings. In a letter of 1828 to his friend John Linnell he wrote: 'Nor must be forgotten the motley clouding, the fine meshes, the aerial tissues that dapple the skies of spring; nor the rolling volumes and piled mountains of light.' He saw in the treatment of clouds in Linnell's own paintings 'how the elements of nature may be transmitted into the pure Gold of Art.'</p><p><em>Gallery label, September 2004</em></p>
paper unique ink watercolour
15 October 2001 – 7 July 2002
2002-07-07
15 October 2001 – 7 July 2002
2002-07-07
2001-10-15
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2001-10-15
William Blake and His Followers
Collection based display
21 October 2005 – 28 May 2006
2006-05-28
21 October 2005 – 22 January 2006
2006-01-22
2005-10-21
British Museum (London, UK)
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
7 March 2006 – 28 May 2006
2006-05-28
2006-03-07
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, USA)
http://www.metmuseum.org
2005-10-21
Samuel Palmer, 1805-1881; Vison and Landscape
Loan-out
19 October 2007 – 11 January 2009
2009-01-11
19 October 2007
2007-10-19
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2007-10-19
Visionary Landscapes
Collection based display
26 March 2015 – 27 May 2020
2020-05-27
26 March 2015 – 21 June 2015
2015-06-21
2015-03-26
Museo Nacional de Arte (Mexico City, Mexico)
18 July 2015 – 18 October 2015
2015-10-18
2015-07-18
Pinacoteca do Estado (São Paulo, Brazil)
27 April 2018 – 5 August 2018
2018-08-05
2018-04-27
Shanghai Art Museum (Shanghai, China)
4 September 2018 – 13 November 2018
2018-11-13
2018-09-04
National Art Museum of China (Beijing, China)
2015-03-26
British Landscape
Tate partnerships & programmes
17 June 2017 – 3 September 2017
2017-09-03
17 June 2017 – 3 September 2017
2017-09-03
2017-06-17
Royal West of England Academy (Bristol, UK)
2017-06-17
Air
Loan-out
12 August 2019 – 17 March 2020
2020-03-17
12 August 2019
2019-08-12
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2019-08-12
Blake Followers
Collection based display
The Bright Cloud
support: 229 × 305 mm
frame: 598 × 447 × 25 mm
Presented by Hugh Blaker through the <a href="/search?gid=999999968" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">Art Fund</a> 1917
<p>Palmer studied clouds for their <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/picturesque" title="Glossary definition for 'Picturesque'"><span>picturesque</span></a> qualities. Unlike the artist John Constable he did not go 'skying' as a way of capturing particular meteorological effects which could then be used to inform the overall mood of his <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/l/landscape" title="Glossary definition for 'Landscape'"><span>landscape</span></a> <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/painting" title="Glossary definition for 'Painting'"><span>paintings</span></a>. In a  letter of 1828 to his friend John Linnell he wrote: 'Nor must be forgotten the motley clouding, the fine meshes, the aerial tissues that dapple the skies of spring; nor the rolling volumes and piled mountains of light.' He saw in the treatment of clouds in Linnell's own paintings 'how the elements of nature may be transmitted into the pure Gold of Art.'</p>
Display caption
2004-09-08T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions adults agriculture and fishing animals: mammals cloud herdsman / herdswoman herdsman / herdswoman, shepherd / shepherdess hill landscape man people reclining sheep weather woman wooded work and occupations