Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows
- Artist: John Constable
- Date: exhibited 1831
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 1537 x 1920 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is the “Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows” by John Constable. Painted in 1830‑31, it shows the cathedral from a north‑west angle, looking across the River Nadder near the Long Bridge. In the foreground a black‑and‑white sheepdog faces inward, its gaze pulling you toward the spire that pierces a sky of billowing clouds. A dark storm cloud hovers over the roof, lightning flashing, yet a vivid rainbow arches above, hinting that the tempest will pass.
The work reflects Constable’s concerns about the future of the Anglican Church amid the political reform debates of the early 1830s, and it may also echo the artist’s grief after his wife Maria’s death in 1828. His close friend, Archdeacon John Fisher, encouraged him to capture this dramatic scene. The painting was first shown at the Royal Academy in 1831 but found no buyer; Constable kept it in his studio, retouching it until his death in 1837.
The canvas is thick‑laid in the undergrowth and thin, almost translucent in the rainbow, giving the scene a frenzied, almost ecstatic energy. It stands as one of Constable’s most dramatic landscapes, capturing both natural power and personal turmoil.
See it in person
Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
