London from Hampstead, with a double rainbow by John Constable

The transcendent quality of this work is communicated after, what the British Museum calls, “careful and specific observation of the weather.”

Constable London from HampsteadThey say that a few years prior to this work, Constable had suffered the loss of his wife, Maria, and that he, “occasionally considered a rainbow to be a symbol of resurrection, a thought that may have been comforting as he contemplated his late wife’s favourite view.”

London from Hampstead, with a double rainbow
by John Constable

Date: June, 1831. Medium: Watercolour with scraping out on grey paper.

The British Museum, London, England.

Source: “A View from the Artist’s Home,” britishmuseum.org, accessed August 20, 2015, http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pd/j/john_constable,_london_from_ha.aspx