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24
Jan
Early unrecorded Constable sketch discovered in North Yorkshire expected to fetch £200,000
An early unrecorded sketch by landscape artist John Constable, found in a private family collection in North Yorkshire, is exected to fetch £200,000 at auction.
The oil sketch, titled 'Dedham Vale looking towards Langham', is believed to have been completed between 1809 and 1814 and formed the basis for Dedham Vale (c.1825), which is now in the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen Neue Pinakothek in Munich
It will be auctioned in the British, European and Sporting Art Sale at Tennants Auctioneers at Leyburn on March 15, 2025.
The early plein-air sketch shows the countryside surrounding Constable’s childhood home of East Bergholt on the Suffolk/Essex border.
The present sketch is close in style to other known works executed circa 1809-10 but is notable for the more dramatic way in which he handles light and shade, depicting rays of sunlight bursting through cloud and sharply illuminating stretches of the Vale.
Jane Tennant, director and auctioneer at Tennants Auctioneers, said:
Constable is such an icon of British art history, and we are delighted to be handling the sale of this lively and expressive landscape.
Oil sketches, much like drawings, have an immediacy – a direct link to the mind and working practices of an artist.
Executed when he was just starting out on his extraordinary career, he has managed to imbue the sketchily painted landscape with such vitality with his deft handling of dramatic light and shade.
The painting will be will be offered for sale with an estimate of £150,000 to £200,000.
It will be available to view at Tennants’ salerooms in Leyburn, 10 miles north of Masham, ahead of the auction.
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