司教庭園から見たソールズベリー大聖堂

Constable painted this view of Salisbury Cathedral in 1823 for his close friend John Fisher, the Bishop of Salisbury, who is often taken to be the small figure standing with his wife at the lower left, pointing his cane toward the spire. Constable framed the church through an arch of trees, a green tunnel that makes England's tallest medieval spire feel personal rather than grand. He called it the most difficult subject he ever had on his easel and said he had not flinched at the windows and buttresses. The bishop, though, took exception to the dark cloud Constable had set over the building and later asked for a version with a calmer sky. That single grey cloud is the thing to find here, the small disagreement between a painter and his patron, still hanging over the cathedral.