John Constable’s favourite piece comes to Scotland

The National Gallery of Scotland will be loaned Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows. Picture: PA

John Constable’s Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows has been bought from private owners for just over £23 million by a partnership of British institutions, including the National Galleries of Scotland.

The massive painting is regarded as the most visually spectacular of a series of  six-foot canvases by the world-famous 19th- century landscape artist, who admitted that it was the work of which he was most proud and most wanted people to see.

The historic canvas went on display in the Constable room at Tate Britain yesterday following the deal.

It will tour three other museums in the arts consortium across England and Wales before being brought to the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh in 2017.

It is among Constable’s numerous artworks which influenced Scottish artists, including “the father of Scottish landscape painting”, William McTaggart.

Dr Patricia Allerston, head of education and soon to be deputy director at the NGS, said: “It’s a great opportunity for us to have a great work of world class significance by a major artist. He was in many ways a local artist but he also became an international artist and he is thought to have influenced Scottish artists including William McTaggart.”

The gallery plans to display the work next to one of the few other Constables which it currently has, entitled the Vale of Dedham.

Dr Allerston added: “It will give people a good chance to see why Constable is considered one of the most important landscape artists in the 19th century.”

The 1831 painting shows the Wiltshire city’s cathedral under a dark sky illuminated by a rainbow. It is often interpreted as a metaphor for the pressure felt by the Church of England over its loss of political power in the period. Constable himself wrote: “I am told I got it to look better than anything I have yet done.”

The masterpiece will be returned to England in 2018 to be displayed at the Tate Britain, which led the deal to purchase the artwork.

It was bought from unnamed private owners who had loaned the work to The National Gallery since 1983.

Most of the funding came from a £15.8 million Heritage Lottery Fund grant. The Art Fund provided £1m, with the remainder of the money donated by Tate members and philanthropic organisation, The Manton Foundation.

Tate director Nicholas Serota said: “Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows is one of the great masterpieces of British art. I am extremely grateful to the owners who have worked with us while we have raised the funds.”

The other three institutions in the partnership are the National Museum in Cardiff, the Christchurch Mansion in Ipswich and the Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum.