Constable Bought

Tate Britain has bought John Constable's Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows (1831) for the bargain price of £23.1m, thanks to major grants from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Art Fund, The Manton Foundation and Tate Members. This is one of his monumental six-foot canvases, painted shortly after his wife's death. It's been on loan to The National Gallery for 30 years. The bad news for London art lovers is that it will go on constant tour to Tate Britain's partners in the purchase: the National Museum of Wales, the National Galleries of Scotland, Colchester and Ipswich Museums and Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum. But it has been saved for the nation. The heirs of Lord Ashton of Hyde might have sold it to an American museum (CLICK).