The 9 x 5½in (23 x 14cm) pencil study, A London Terrace with Trees and Figures, is to be offered on August 24 at Dawson’s in Berkshire with an estimate of £4000-6000.
Dawson’s Maxine Winning said the study was found with “several other works by artists such as William Payne, Samuel Prout and Henry Gastineau”. They are all believed to have been “bequeathed to the owner by their long-time next door neighbour and close friend when she passed away”.
The friend worked as a writer for publisher Longman from the 1940s and sourced art to be documented and included in encyclopaedias.
The picture has a label on the reverse indicating that it was purchased from dealer John Manning of 8 Bury Street, London. The typed label details how the drawing was authenticated at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Winning has contacted the V&A and the Constable Society and is awaiting a verdict on the sketch.
As reported in ATG No 2401, Chiswick Auctions offered a handful of Constable’s works this year. In March it sold two ink-on-paper compositional sketches for £32,000 and £60,000.
Then in June three more works by the Suffolk-born painter were offered in Chiswick’s British & European Fine Art sale. Best performer was a pencil sketch of a river landscape which sold at £70,000, nearly eight times the top estimate.
