Rediscovered John Constable painting

14th August 2024

A rediscovered work by renowned artist, John Constable, has sold at auction for £516,600 after being with the same family for upwards of 70 years.

The oil sketch of The Gravel Pits at Hampstead was executed between 1820 and 1822, not long after Constable took lodgings in the area to improve the health of his young family.

Constable was one of only a handful of artists sketching in oil paint – many others preferring watercolour, or lacking the technical ability to work alla prima. The small works would then be scaled up into large oil paintings. The pencil marks along the edges of the sketch indicate that this process was begun, but no full-scale version of The Gravel Pits at Hampstead is recorded.

“Hampstead’s combination of panoramic views across London and the rustic ruggedness of its steep banks and hollows meant it held great appeal to Constable as an artist,” explained Paintings specialist, Victor Fauvelle of Woolley and Wallis where the painting was sold. “His time in Hampstead stands alongside his time in Suffolk as the periods where such oil sketches predominated and produced some of his most admired and best-loved works.”

The oil sketch came up for auction on 4th September for the first time since 1952 when it sold at Sotheby’s. Before that it was believed to have been with London dealer’s Dowdeswell and Dowdeswell, who acquired it from the post-humous sale of Charles Golding Constable, the artist’s son. In his lifetime, John Constable regularly refused to sell any of his sketches stating that he had, “no objection to parting with the corn, but not with the field that grew it”.

Today such works are highly sought after for their vivacity and freedom, and for what they teach us about the methods of one of Britain’s great masters. A century after Constable’s death, the artist John Piper described his sketches as “complete, vivid and timeless”, demonstrating the influence they continued to have on artists across the Western world.

Since the 1950s, the painting has been with the family of Ben McPeake, the Managing Director of International Magazines. For some years McPeake lived at Frognal House in Hampstead and is believed to have acquired the work because of its locality.

When it came under the hammer on 4th September, the painting was hotly contested by a multitude of keen bidders and soared past its starting price of £50,000. 

Specialist, Victor Fauvelle, commented, "It's rare to find a mini masterpiece of this type in such exceptional condition. That, its freshness to the market and its appealing subject matter have all made it highly sought after and contributed to the extraordinary price it achieved."

Earlier this year, a similar oil sketch of a building in Flatford, Suffolk, sold at auction in Guernsey for £200,000.

 

Followers of Constable's work may be interested in the National Gallery's upcoming exhibition - https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/exhibitions/discover-constable-and-the-hay-wain.

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