Genre
Overcast
The grey overcast sky is light without spectacle — soft, shadowless, low in contrast. It is the native weather of the North, and its painters made a virtue of it: a muted, silvery key that suits the quiet picture, the working landscape, and the truth of a day that never quite brightens.
Key artists
Works
View from the Quai d'Orsay
On the Jetty
Fan Mount: The Cabbage Gatherers
The Pont Neuf, Paris
Sunday at the Church of Saint-Philippe-du-Roule, Paris
Memorial painting
A General and His Aide-de-camp
Boats on a Beach, Etretat
Law of the Wild
Oyster Sloop, Cos Cob
On the Beach at Trouville
Lobster Fishermen
Hunting Scene
The Old Castle
Death of Euridice
Springtime
A Windy Day on the Pont des Arts
The Route Nationale at Samer
The Fountain
Arches in Ruins
Parisian Street Scene
Steamboats in the Port of Rouen
The Building of Westminster Bridge
Gathering Wood
Riders on the Beach at Dieppe
An Alligator's Nest
Una escena de la Inquisición
A Bog with Peat Cutters. Høsterkøb, North Zealand
Trees in the Bois de Boulogne, Paris
Don Quixote and the Dead Mule
The Sultan's Tiger
Saltash with the Water Ferry, Cornwall
南宋 傳陳居中 胡騎春獵圖 團扇|Nomads hunting with falcons
A Beach with Fishing Boats
A Shepherdess and Her Flock
Macomb's Dam Hotel
Fishing Boats on a River
A Street in Ikao
Rowing Scene: Crowds Watching from the River Banks
School Time
The Grave of William Penn
Ralph Wheelock's Farm
Piazza San Marco, Venice
Reminiscences of Qinhuai River
Cleansing Medicinal Herbs in the Stream on a Spring Day
Construction of an Elevated Railway: Bridge over the Cours de Vincennes
Tragedy of the Sea
Harlem River
The Dark Mountain, No. 1
Twilight
Castle by a River
Morning on the Seine near Giverny
The Pont Neuf
Ice Floes
Émilie
Canal Side
Haystacks (Effect of Snow and Sun)
Athlete and Dancer
Jungfrau (from "Splendid Mountain Watercolours" Sketchbook)
Shepherd with a Flock of Sheep
En færge over Gudenåen
The Windmill
The Turmoil of Conflict (Joan of Arc series: IV)
Bridge at Argenteuil on a Gray Day
The Maid in Armor on Horseback (Joan of Arc series: III)
Waterloo Bridge, London, at Dusk
To the Memory of the Benevolent Howard
Et gadekær. Maglebylille
Swans in Central Park
The Hamlet of Optevoz
Pirna: The Obertor from the South
A Peasant Woman Picking Fleas off a Dog
On the Thames
Holy Mountain IV
Cabin of the Customs Watch
Women Carrying Faggots
Cows being Watered at a Village Pond. Brofelde, Zealand
Boats on the Seacoast at Étaples
Country House near the Water
National Defense
East River
Birthplace of the Artist
An Overgrown Mineshaft
One Third of a Nation
Lair of the Sea Serpent
Gray Day on the Bay
The Boatyard
View of Bordeaux, from the Quai des Chartrons
Seascape
The Curious One
Pine Tree
Lormes: Goat-Girl Sitting Beside a Stream in a Forest
The Wheat Field
January
Album of Miscellaneous Subjects, Leaf 8
View of the Village of Eemnes
Footpath near Herlufsholm, Zealand
Udsigt mod Roskilde fra et husmandssted
Der læsses tang ved Hornbæk Strand
Springtime in Hals, Jutland
Ansichten aus den vier Weltteilen mit Szenen von Tieren: Peking
An Overcast Day in Florence near Ponte Santa Trinità
The Mill Stream
The Windmill
Le Port de Cannes
Honfleur
Roundel with Wild Man Supporting a Heraldic Shield
Theater-Mountain-Construction
The Curious Little Girl
Moss-Covered Log
Kynance
Aqueduct in Ruins
Miraculous Landing, or the "112!"
The Wood Sawyer
Castles in Spain (Chateaux en Espagne)
Hohlweg im Winter
Sunset on the River
Boathouse, Winter, Harlem River
Hunting Scene with a Pond
A Young Bull
The Old Westover House
Weary Wayfarers
Washerwoman near Trouville
The Great Windmill and the Rainbow
The Fortress of Königstein
A Light on the Sea
Berks County Almshouse, 1895
The Races
Auvers (Washerwomen)
Bare Knuckles
The Tomb of Caecilia Metella
The Quarry of Monsieur Pascal near Nanterre
Beach at Trouville
Woods in Winter
Lambs, Nantucket
Ice Scene near a Wooden Observation Tower
Salisbury Cathedral from Lower Marsh Close
The Beach
Home, Sweet Home
Black-Backed Three-Toed Woodpecker
Grey and Silver: Chelsea Wharf
Retriever
The Cheyenne Brothers Starting on Their Fall Hunt
Calanque des Antibois
On the Beach, Trouville
Shepherd Boys and Dog Sheltering from a Storm
The White Horse
Antelope Shooting - Assinneboine
Capriccio of a Harbor
Arab Encampment
Notre Dame de Paris
Skating on the Frozen Amstel River
The Black Rocks at Trouville
The Barnyard
Grizzly Bears Attacking Buffalo
Gezicht op Blankenberghe
Dancing Round the Maypole
Acantilados (Guéthary)
From the Old Kristiania
Doña Joanna the Mad
River Scenery
From Dohras (Songs) 40 and 36 from the Kitab-i Nauras of Sultan Ibrahim Adil Shah II (verso)
Layla and Majnun in the wilderness with animals, from a Khamsa (Quintet) of Amir Khusrau Dihlavi
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
View of the Port of Saint-Valéry-sur-Somme
Cottage by the River with Washerwomen
Spring and Autumn Farming
The three suitors again begin to quarrel among themselves for the hand of the devotee’s daughter, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Twentieth Night
The Road to Nantes
Scholar Playing a Qin
Summer Night
Harbor Scene
Spring and Autumn Farming (Spring)
The Cliff at Étretat
The painting made by the vizier of the emperor of China for the queen of Rum, from a Tuti-nama (Tales of a Parrot): Thirty-ninth Night
Sweeping Snow
Over the Dunes, Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Boats at Anchor on West Lake at the City Gate
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Jai Singh III of Jaipur (r. 1818–1835) Riding
Poem-card from the Shinkokin wakashu (New Collection of Japanese Poems from Ancient and Modern Times) with Design of Pine on a Beach
The Troubadour
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Night Scene on the Sumida River
Akrura Rides toward Dwarka, page from the large Basohli Bhagavata Purana
Royal women shooting from a pavilion
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Bijan killing the wild boars of Irman, from a Shah-nama (Book of Kings) of Firdausi (Persian, about 934–1020), (recto)
Pollard Willow
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
Page from Tales of a Parrot (Tuti-nama): text page
View of Nantes
View of the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome
View of the back of a Palace
Venetian Lagoon
The Kedawong Sugar Mill near Pasuruan on Jawa
Corisca and Linco
View of Tervuren Castle
The Ruins of Brahehus near Jönköping, Sweden
Flowering Peach Trees, Provence
Frequently asked questions
What is Overcast?
Overcast is a quality of light in painting. The grey overcast sky is light without spectacle — soft, shadowless, low in contrast.
How many Overcast works does Artifact World Gallery have?
Artifact World Gallery holds 9,446 public-domain Overcast works, all free to view and download.
Who are the key Overcast artists?
Key Overcast artists in the collection include Jean Baptiste Camille Corot, Gustave Courbet and Edgar Degas.