Gallery Label In 1822, John Fisher, bishop of Salisbury, commissioned John Constable to paint the version of this composition now in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. (Fisher and his wife are visible at lower left in all versions of the composition). In July 1824, he asked Constable to revise it, whereupon the present canvas was begun. Infrared reflectography reveals that it started with an outline traced from the first version, and that the artist then improvised directly on the canvas, painting in the sky and opening up the foliage arching over the south transept to give the spire a more dominant role in the composition. In Constable's estate sale, this work was described as "nearly finished." It is indeed a study for the final version, completed in 1826 (Frick Collection, New York).
Provenance the artist (until d. 1837; ?his estate sale, Foster and Sons, London, May 16, 1838, no. 30, as "Salisbury Cathedral, for [sic] the Bishop's Garden, 'nearly finished,'" for £16.16.0 to Archbutt); ?Samuel Archbutt (1838–39; his sale, Christie's, London, April 13, 1839, no. 114, as "View of Salisbury cathedral, from the meadows," for £31.10.0 to Theobald); ?[Theobald, from 1839]; John Davis, Manchester and Wykin Hall, Hinckley, Leicestershire (until d. 1881); E. J. Foxwell, Clarence Road, Hinckley (by 1907; sale, Christie's, London, April 20, 1907, no. 104, 33 1/2 x 43 in., for £1,575 to Gribble); Mr. Gribble (1907; sold to Agnew); [Agnew, London, 1907; sold to Lee]; Mr. A. H. Lee (from 1907); Sir Joseph Beecham, 1st Bt., Hampstead, London (by 1911–d. 1916; his estate sale, Christie's, London, May 3, 1917, no. 6, for £6,510 to Smith); Smith (from 1917); R. Cremetti (until 1923; sold to Agnew and Knoedler); [Agnew and Knoedler, London, 1923; Agnew's share sold to Knoedler]; [Knoedler, New York, 1923–26; sold to Harkness]; Edward S. Harkness, New York (1926–d. 1940); Mrs. Edward S. (Mary Stillman) Harkness, New York (1940–d. 1950)
Exhibition History London. Thomas Agnew & Sons, Ltd.. "Annual Loan Exhibition," November–December, 1907, no. 26.
Rome. British Fine Art Palace. "International Fine Arts Exhibition (British Section)," April 1–October, 1911, no. 15.
Detroit Institute of Arts. "Loan Exhibition of English Painting," 1931, no. 1.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Landscape Paintings," May 14–September 30, 1934, no. 62.
Pittsburgh. Carnegie Institute. "A Survey of British Paintings," May 10–June 12, 1938, no. 62.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art Treasures of the Metropolitan," November 7, 1952–September 7, 1953, no. 135.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Masterpieces of Painting in The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 16–November 1, 1970, unnumbered cat.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries," November 15, 1970–February 15, 1971, no. 362.
New York. Frick Collection. "Harry D. M. Grier Memorial Loan Exhibition: Paintings and Drawings Related to Works in the Frick Collection," November 14–26, 1972, no. 2.
Leningrad [St. Petersburg]. State Hermitage Museum. "100 Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum," May 22–July 27, 1975, no. 43.
Moscow. State Pushkin Museum. "100 Paintings from the Metropolitan Museum," August 28–November 2, 1975, no. 43.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Constable's England," April 16–September 4, 1983, no. 34.
Denver Art Museum. "Glorious Nature: British Landscape Painting, 1750–1850," December 11, 1993–February 6, 1994, no. 62.
New York. Frick Collection. "John Constable's Salisbury Cathedral: Two Versions Reunited," September 21–December 31, 1999, unnum. brochure.
Martigny. Fondation Pierre Gianadda. "The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Chefs-d'œuvre de la peinture européenne," June 23–November 12, 2006, no. 23.
References John Constable. Letter to Maria Bicknell (Mrs. Constable) . July 12, 1824.Letter to John Fisher . November 12, 1825.Constable and His Influence on Landscape Painting . Westminster, 1902, pp. 231, 246.in Catalogue of the International Fine Arts Exhibition: Souvenir of the British Section . Exh. cat., British Fine Art Palace. Rome, 1911, pp. 106, 108, no. 15, ill.The Times (May 6, 1911), p. 7.Connoisseur 35 (February 1913), pp. 73–74, ill.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 28 (January 1933), p. 12.Art Digest 8 (June 1, 1934), ill. p. 22.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 29 (May 1934), ill. (cover).Memoirs of the Life of John Constable, R.A. London, 1937, p. 142.Carnegie Magazine 12 (May 1938), ill. p. 39.Letter to Elizabeth E. Gardner . December 30, 1950.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 10 (October 1951), ill. p. 68.Art Quarterly 14 (Autumn 1951), pp. 202, 205, fig. 9.Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1952, p. 231, no. 135, colorpl. 135.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 12, part 2 (January 1954), p. 5, ill. p. 46.Letter . May 1, 1956.Art Quarterly 20 (Summer 1957), pp. 149–50, fig. 2.Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 16 (November 1957), p. 106.Victoria and Albert Museum: Catalogue of the Constable Collection . London, 1960, p. 159.John Constable's Correspondence . 2, London, 1964, p. 360 n. 2.John Constable's Correspondence . 6, London, 1968, pp. 206–7.John Constable: the Man and his Work . rev. ed. London, 1971, pl. 40.Masterpieces in the National Gallery of Canada . no. 10, Ottawa, 1977, pp. 28–29, 34.L'opera completa di Constable . Milan, 1979, p. 151, no. 657, ill.in A Dealer's Record: Agnew's, 1967–81 . London, 1981, p. 141.Master Drawings 19 (Summer 1981), p. 139 n. 2.Constable's England . Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1983, pp. 16, 72, 98, 104, 181, no. 34, ill. p. 105 (color).The Later Paintings and Drawings of John Constable . New Haven, 1984, vol. 1, pp. 167, 172–74, no. 26.19; vol. 2, colorpl. 629.in "Constable's Oil Painting Materials and Techniques." Constable . Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1991, pp. 508, 518 nn. 162–64.Constable . Exh. cat., Tate Gallery. London, 1991, p. 260.in Glorious Nature: British Landscape Painting, 1750–1850 . Exh. cat., Denver Art Museum. New York, 1993, p. 202, no. 62, ill. p. 203 in color and dust jacket.Memoirs of the Life of John Constable . 3rd ed. London, 1995, p. 395.John Constable's Salisbury Cathedral: Two Versions Reunited . [New York], 1999, unpaginated, colorpl. 1.in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Chefs-d'œuvre de la peinture européenne . Exh. cat., Fondation Pierre Gianadda. Martigny, 2006, pp. 132–36, no. 23, ill. (color, overall and detail).The Frick Collection Members' Magazine 7 (fall 2007), p. 12.in Masterpieces of European Painting, 1800–1920, in The Metropolitan Museum of Art . New York, 2007, pp. 21, 227, no. 19, ill. (color and bw).
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