The discovery of an oil study by John Constable that could sell for about £350,000 at auction has been described as “very significant” by a historian.
Constable’s practice painting for his 1826 artwork The Cornfield will be sold at auction on 5 June, as part of Heritage Auctions’ European Art event.
It was previously believed that the preparatory piece, which, similar to his final version, depicts a lane leading from East Bergholt, Suffolk, towards Dedham, Essex, did not exist.
But it was later found hanging in the Jefferson Historical Society & Museum in Jefferson, Texas, which Dr John Paul-Stonard, an art author and historian from Suffolk, said was a “major” find.