Between 1826 and 1835, British artist Samuel Palmer painted the landscapes around his run-down cottage near Sevenoaks, Kent, England. He referred to his cottage as ‘Rat Abbey’, but he was not so disparaging about its surrounding countryside or the skies above.

His paintings of Kent make the county look like an enchanted land steeped in magic. In The Bright Cloud (c. 1833), figures roam across an autumnal field of cows as a dazzling Cumulus congestus suggests a world beyond. This mighty Cumulus is accompanied by a couple of accessory clouds. A delicate cap of cloud known as a pileus perches on its towering summit and stretches off to the left. Long horizontal stretches of cloud known as velum appear at its flanks, with the one in partial shadow at its upper left being a fine example. It’s almost as if the cloud’s putting on its hat and drawing a cloak around itself as it prepares to join those wanderers on their journey.