An art expert has said he is convinced that a painting in The Salisbury Museum is the original by John Constable and a version in the Louvre in Paris is a copy created by him later.
The oil painting has gone on display for the first time in 60 years at the museum in Wiltshire having previously been in a private collection.
A View of Salisbury from Harnham, an oil painting created in 1820, depicts the city and its cathedral and is on loan to the museum until 2030.
Art historian Timothy Wilcox, who has thoroughly researched the painting, said it was “downgraded 50 years ago” because it was thought to be a copy of one in the Louvre but he was “now convinced this is the original”.
The Salisbury Museum described the work as a “hidden masterpiece” and said displaying it, exactly 250 years after Constable’s birth, was a “landmark moment” for its collections.