CONSTABLE Country may lie in Suffolk, where the great English landscape painter grew up, but he was also drawn to both Salisbury and Dorset where he honeymooned at Osmington near Weymouth.

Today an exhibition called Constable and Salisbury can be seen in the cathedral town that was home to his good friend Archbishop John Fisher.

And it reveals that John Constable, who was born in 1776, did more paintings around the Wessex region than anywhere else other than the place where he grew up.

They include the magnificent Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows with its rainbow arching over the spire.

After his first stay in the city in 1811 Constable returned seven times to the city and his relationship with Fisher was a key influence in his life and work.

By the time of that first visit, Constable had already fallen in love with Maria Bicknell, whom he had known since childhood, and she with him. But Constable had little money and her family opposed the match so it was not until 1816 that they were able to marry – at St Martin in the Fields in London, with Fisher officiating.

The couple headed to Dorset to honeymoon at Osmington, staying for six weeks with the Rev Fisher and his wife Mary at St Osmund’s vicarage.

While there, Constable painted his first seascapes. His oil painting of Osmington Bay, showing a calm day full of light, can be seen at the Salisbury exhibition, as well as his landscape of Osmington Village with the Church and Vicarage.

This painting was based on a sketch drawn from a location known as Roman Road that is now a rough track climbing eastwards towards Poxwell. Today that view is largely concealed by trees.

The picture remained in the Fisher family until 1966.

But arguably Constable’s most interesting work from his honeymoon stay was Weymouth Bay showing the sea in angry mood as a storm hits the coast.

Small in size, it is actually a view of Bowleaze Cove.

Dashed off on a piece of unprepared board, it served as a study for a painting that was exhibited three years later.

The board appears to have been used as support for other outdoor studies as marks and pinholes can be seen on its back.

The figures on the beach, with two dogs, may represent his hosts, the Rev and Mrs Fisher.

And, say the exhibition organisers, Constable and his group must have been caught in rain for there are marks left by water drops when the paint was still wet on the sketch..

Four years later Fisher – a monument to him can be found at the church in Osmington – invited Constable to stay for three weeks at his family’s rectory in Gillingham, North Dorset, and Constable later made four oil paintings of a picturesque mill there, known as Perne’s Mill, that were produced from his notebook.

His 1825 oil painting that can be seen at Salisbury, is judged the best of them.

(That mill was later destroyed by fire but rebuilt and continued as a working mill until just eight years ago.) Fisher and Constable’s friendship was such that they enjoyed times together in the region and, when staying at Salisbury, would explore the River Avon valley together.

Thanks to those trips, as well as his fine paintings of Salisbury and its cathedral, Constable produced fascinating works such as a watercolour of Old Sarum and a sketch of Downton on the edge of the New Forest.

The two friends visited Stonehenge once in 1820 and this experience gave rise to, arguably, Constable’s last great watercolour painting that was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1836.

Sadly, that was eight years after Maria had died from tuberculosis after the birth of her seventh child.

Constable died in 1837, at the age of 60.

The exhibition at Salisbury, opposite its majestic cathedral, focuses on Constable’s work in the city and surrounding region, giving a fresh insight into a great artist and the opportunity to see some well-known pictures and some of his lesser-known works.

• Constable and Salisbury: the Soul of Landscape Exhibition is at Salisbury and South Wiltshire Museum until September 25, from 10am to 5pm Monday to Saturday and noon to 5pm on Sundays. Entry is limited to 30 people every 30 minutes from 10.30am to 4.00pm. Constable Exhibition tickets also include access to the Museum. Details: salisburymuseum.org.uk Telephone 01722 332151