John Constable, Salisbury Cathedral: exterior from the south-west, 1811, Reynolds cat. no. 105

View of Salisbury Cathedral with large tree in foreground in black and white chalk on grey paper.

Bequeathed by Isabel Constable, daughter of the artist

'In the year 1811 Constable's exhibits at the Royal Academy comprised 'Twilight', and 'Dedham Vale: morning' (now in the collection of Sir Richard Proby). He visited Suffolk in the spring and paid his first visit to Salisbury in the autumn: this was probably the occasion of his first meeting with John Fisher, who was to become his closest friend. His attachment to Maria Bicknell became known during this year, and he received her father's permission to write to her in October.'

[G Reynolds, 1973, p. 69]

Constable has noted on the back of the drawing that it was done on 11 and 12 September 1811. Such a precise dating emphasises how Constable's drawings were a kind of visual diary. This drawing was done on the artist's first visit to Salisbury. It was the source for the well-known painting Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop's Grounds of 1823, which is also in the V&A’s collection. Constable often referred back to earlier drawings in his paintings in this way. The finished painting, though, was not always an exact transcription of the drawing.

292-1888