Detail of Salisbury Cathedral by Constable in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, February 2020

Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds
ca. 1825


Object Details

Title: Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds

Artist: John Constable (British, East Bergholt 1776–1837 Hampstead)

Date: ca. 1825

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 34 5/8 x 44 in. (87.9 x 111.8 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Bequest of Mary Stillman Harkness, 1950

Accession Number: 50.145.8


This painting was made as a full-scale study for the picture of 1826 now in the Frick Collection, New York. The latter picture was completed for Constable’s friend John Fisher, bishop of Salisbury, who appears at lower left in both canvases. In fact the commission dates back to 1822; in the course of working on the composition, Constable opened up the tree canopy and added a sunny sky to frame the cathedral’s medieval spire, the tallest in England.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/435922