Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows
John Constable · 1831
The story
Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows was painted by John Constable in 1831, three years after the death of his wife, Maria. It is currently on display in London, at Tate Britain, in the Clore gallery. The painting displays Salisbury Cathedral across the River Nadder. Three horses pull a cart across the river, while cattle and a sheepdog are also visible.
Constable later added nine lines from The Seasons by the eighteenth-century poet James Thomson that reveal the painting's meaning: that the rainbow is a symbol of hope after a storm that follows on the death of the young Amelia in the arms of her lover Celadon. Constable exhibited this painting at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1831, but continued working on it during 1833 and 1834. The art historians Leslie Parris and Ian Fleming-Williams have described the painting as the climax of his artistic career.
- Artist
- John Constable
- Date
- 1831
- Collection
- National Gallery, London, United Kingdom
- Movement
- Impressionism
- Medium
- oil paint, canvas
- Size
- 151.8 × 189.9 cm
Story adapted from the Wikipedia article and its contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Facts from Wikidata (CC0). Image: Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
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