Salisbury Cathedral, a thirteenth-century Gothic landmark in Wiltshire, southwestern England, played an important role in the artist's life and career. This oil sketch is the fifth of six paintings of the cathedral seen from the south that Constable produced between 1820 and 1826. His first, finished version of this composition was commissioned by Dr. John Fisher, bishop of Salisbury. Fisher's nephew, the archdeacon, ranked among the artist's closest friends and supporters. The initial sketch in this series presented the 400-foot spire framed by towering trees and surmounted by a dark storm cloud. Although the bishop admired Constable's rendering, he requested a modified version featuring a brighter sky.

Constable created the Museum's painting (a full-scale preparatory sketch for a finished work that is now in the Frick Collection, New York) with the bishop in mind. Drawing upon his extensive repertoire of cloud studies, Constable replaced the earlier works' menacing skies with the white, puffy clouds preferred by his patron. The spire, freed from the original arch of tree branches, now soars unimpeded into the sky. The bishop, his wife, and their daughter appear at the left, where Fisher points toward the cathedral with his white cane.

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