This painting was made as a full-scale study for the picture of 1826 now in the Frick Collection, New York. The latter picture was completed for Constable's friend John Fisher, bishop of Salisbury, who appears at lower left in both canvases. In fact the commission dates back to 1822; in the course of working on the composition, Constable opened up the tree canopy and added a sunny sky to frame the cathedral's medieval spire, the tallest in England.