A SIGNIFICANT oil painting by John Constable is set to return to the city that inspired it, as A View of Salisbury from Harnham goes on long-term public display from June.

The loan to The Salisbury Museum coincides with the 250th anniversary of Constable’s birth and is described as particularly fitting given the artist’s close and enduring association with the city.

Painted in the early 1820s, the work depicts Salisbury Cathedral, the River Avon and surrounding water meadows from the eastern end of Harnham ridge, looking due north.

Though modest in size at just 12 by 20 ins, the oil on canvas captures recognisable landmarks and highlights Constable’s skill in oil sketching – then a relatively innovative approach to landscape painting.

Museum director Adrian Green said the loan was especially meaningful given Constable’s deep personal connection to the city.

The period was one of the artist’s most productive.

Constable made several visits to Salisbury while staying with the Fisher family, including the Bishop of Salisbury, a key patron, and his nephew John Fisher, a close friend.

The artist also spent part of his honeymoon in the city in 1816.

The painting has been owned by the same family for more than 60 years and has recently been the subject of detailed research by art historian Timothy Wilcox, a leading Constable scholar and author of Constable and Salisbury: The Soul of Landscape.

John Constable R.A. ‘View of Salisbury from Harnham’.

As part of that research, the work was examined alongside a near-identical version now held at the Musée du Louvre in Paris, reflecting a period when Constable often produced similarly sized versions of compositions.

Visitors will be able to see the painting in the museum’s Salisbury Gallery, displayed alongside a drawing by Constable and engravings of his work by David Lucas.

The loan runs until 2030 and complements works in the collection by artists including J.M.W. Turner and Rex Whistler.