''Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds'' is an 1823

landscape painting Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction of natural scenery such as mountains, valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main subject is a wide view—with its elements arranged into a coherent compo ...

by the nineteenth-century landscape painter John Constable (1776–1837). This image of Salisbury Cathedral, one of England's most famous medieval churches, is one of his most celebrated works, and was commissioned by one of his closest friends,

John Fisher John Fisher (c. 19 October 1469 – 22 June 1535) was an English Catholic bishop, cardinal, and theologian. Fisher was also an academic and Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. He was canonized by Pope Pius XI. Fisher was executed by o ...

, The Bishop of Salisbury. The 1823 version of the painting has been in the collection of the

Victoria & Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, since its bequest in 1857.

History

Constable visited Salisbury in 1811 and made a series of sketches of the cathedral, from the south-east, the south-west and from the east end. The artist selected a viewpoint from the bishop's garden (the south-east) and returned in 1820 to make further drawings and an open-air oil sketch, now in the

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...

in Ottawa, which served as the model for the London version. Included in the paintings are figures of Dr. Fisher and his wife at the bottom left. Following the exhibition of the London version at the 1823 Royal Academy, Constable observed: "My Cathedral looks very well....It was the most difficult subject in Landscape I ever had upon my Easel. I have not flinched at the work of the windows, buttresses, &c. – but I have as usual made my escape in the Evanescence of the Chiaro-Oscuro". His patron took exception to the dark cloud over the cathedral, and when he commissioned a smaller replica, requested "a more serene sky". A full-scale replica of the painting also resides at the Frick Collection in New York City. It is slightly different in that it shows different weather and hence light. Whereas the London version depicts the cathedral with an overcast sky, the version in the Frick shows the cathedral with a clear, bright sky. It was executed in 1825 after Fisher requested, in a letter, that Constable repaint the sky in the London version. Unfortunately Fisher died before Constable completed the work. A full-scale study for the Frick version is currently held at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

Other versions

There is an earlier, homonymous version (1821–1822) of this painting at

São Paulo Museum of Art The São Paulo Museum of Art ( pt, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, or ') is an art museum located on Paulista Avenue in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. It is well known for its headquarters, a 1968 concrete and glass structure designed by Lina Bo ...

in São Paulo. This is an early oil sketch for the London version. Another, small version of the painting, measuring 62.9 × 75.9 cm, executed between 1823 and 1826, now resides at the

Huntington Library The Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Gardens, known as The Huntington, is a collections-based educational and research institution established by Henry E. Huntington (1850–1927) and Arabella Huntington (c.1851–1924) in San Ma ...

San Marino, California San Marino is a residential city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. It was incorporated on April 25, 1913. At the 2010 census the population was 13,147. The city is one of the wealthiest places in the nation in terms of househo ...

. This smaller, sunnier version was painted for John Fisher as a wedding present for his daughter, Elizabeth.Constable: Impressions of Land, Sea and Sky
/ref> Constable painted many views of Salisbury Cathedral during his career, including ''Salisbury Cathedral and Leadenhall from the River Avon'' (1820) and more famously '' Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows'' (1831).

Bibliography

References

External links

''Europe in the age of enlightenment and revolution''
a catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art Libraries (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on this painting (see index) {{John Constable Paintings by John Constable Paintings in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum 1823 paintings Landscape paintings Salisbury Cathedral Paintings in the Frick Collection Paintings in the collection of the São Paulo Museum of Art Collection of the Huntington Library Churches in art Cattle in art England in art

History

Other versions

See also

Bibliography

References

External links