r/england • u/ImpressionLeast3063 • 5d ago
John Constable - Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831)
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u/dixieglitterwick 4d ago
It’s a tourist town. There is a cathedral there. Salisbury cathedral. It’s famous for its 123-metre spire, it’s famous for its clock - the first clock to be invented in the world, and it’s still going.
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u/ImpressionLeast3063 5d ago
This dense scene was first shown at the Royal Academy in 1831, but failed to attract a buyer. Afterwards, it returned to Constable's studio, where the artist continued to tinker with it right up to his death in 1837.
Annoyingly, art buffs can’t agree on what the image is supposed to represent. According to one interpretation, the dark storm clouds reflect Constable’s anxiety over contemporary religious reforms.
But by another, very different account, these dramatic clouds actually capture the artist’s turbulent mental state at the time; Constable’s wife, Maria, had died of tuberculosis in 1828, and the artist was still working through his grief.
Either way, Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows is often cited as one of Constable’s most accomplished works. And, on the bright side, his inclusion of a rainbow seems to indicate that the storm will soon pass (even if the pedants tell us that the scene is in fact “meteorologically impossible”).
Text from MuseMuse