Landscape (Storm Cloud)

"Landscape (Storm Cloud)" in Wolverhampton Art Gallery belongs to the concentrated series of storm landscape subjects that Morland developed in the late 1780s and 1790s, as his interest in weather as a pictorial and emotional force deepened. The storm cloud as a subject in its own right — rather than merely as backdrop for human or animal genre — reflects the emerging Romantic sensibility that would later animate the weather studies of Constable and the sublime storms of Turner. Morland's storm clouds are grounded in observation; he was an outdoor painter who experienced English weather directly, and his cloud formations have the specific, changing character of Atlantic weather systems rather than the generic theatrical darkness of less observant painters. Wolverhampton Art Gallery's collection of British landscape painting provides an appropriate context for this work, which stands as evidence of how thoroughly Morland's atmospheric ambitions anticipated the next generation of British landscape painters. The canvas format suits the large, sweeping quality of a sky-dominated composition.

On canvas, the storm cloud composition is likely sky-dominated, with the cloud mass occupying the upper two-thirds or more of the picture space and the landscape below serving as a low, stable baseline against which the weather's drama can be measured. Morland's storm cloud handling employs broad, fluid brushwork for the cloud masses, layering cool blues and grey-greens with darker neutral tones to build up the density and movement of the storm.