Birmingham hosts major research conference to help shape better world

A re-examination of the iconic John Constable work, Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows , has found that the original 1831 exhibited version of the painting did not have a rainbow - and that it was added later to correspond with the time of his best friend's death over a year later. The new research explains how a reassessment of the solar geometry of the painting, and the painter's considerable understanding of contemporary rainbow theory, suggest that that the rainbow was added in at a later date as an homage to John Fisher, who died on the afternoon of 25 August 1832. Not only did Constable add the rainbow to the painting, but he also depicted the end of the rainbow to rest on Archdeacon John Fisher's house, where Constable came to stay during his visits to Salisbury. John Constable is well-known for his powers of observation and thirst for meteorological knowledge, which propelled him to paint more natural-looking skies than nearly all other English artists before or since. Professor John Thornes, Emeritus Professor of Applied Meteorology at the University of Birmingham, explained, "Constable was a great believer that painting is a science, something that should be pursued with the aim of understanding the laws of nature. This approach is clearly applied to the clouds and weather in his works, but it was not the case with all of his depictions of rainbows. Unlike clouds, rainbows are seen much less frequently in his work and were therefore often more mysterious in their symbolic function." Professor Thornes' previous research into Constable's work concluded that the rainbow was meteorologically impossible from the implied position of the sun in the sky.