SALISBURY Museum opened its first ever J M W Turner exhibition today (Thursday) to celebrate the artist's relationship with the city.

The museum is displaying the artist’s paintings and drawings of the cathedral, the city and its surroundings. Turner scholar Ian Warrell curated Turner’s Wessex- Architecture and Ambition, which focuses on three main aspects of the artist’s depictions of the area.

First of all the exhibition centres on Turner’s portrayal of the Cathedral and city and looks in particular detail on the commission he received from Sir Richard Colt Hoare, who inherited Stourhead Estate in 1785.

The focus then moves to the neo-gothic Fonthill Abbey, which Turner painted for the wealthy William Beckford.

The final section of the exhibition shows a selection of work from over 30 years depicting central, southern England, the area known as Wessex.

A highlight of the exhibition is a series of eight water colour landscapes of the cathedral, commissioned by Hoare, which were displayed together in the library at Stourhead before being sold in 1883.

Salisbury Museum Director Adrian Green said: “Seeing these eight water colours back together for the first time is a real highlight for me.”

Another high point is a painting from when Turner was just 15, which shows the artist was exceptionally talented from a very early age.

The exhibition was made possible by extensive loans from 20 different galleries, including the Tate, the British Museum, V&A and Whitworth Art Gallery.

A programme of events will accompany the exhibition, including lectures by Turner scholars, workshops and trails around the Close, Cathedral and City.

The museum will be running tours of Salisbury, highlighting all the places where Turner painted, every Wednesday and Sunday at 2pm until September 27 when the exhibition ends.

Entry to the exhibition is included in the usual museum ticket price.