£350K Constable Painting Emerges from Texas Museum

A previously unknown oil study by John Constable, estimated to be worth around £350,000, has been authenticated and will be offered at auction on June 5. This significant artwork is a practice painting for Constable's 1826 masterpiece, 'The Cornfield,' and was believed not to exist.

The study, which depicts a lane from Suffolk towards Essex, was discovered hanging in the Jefferson Historical Society & Museum in Texas. Art author and historian Dr. John Paul-Stonard described the find as "very significant," noting that new works by an artist of Constable's caliber are rare events.

This oil study was created in London between 1820 and 1826 and is thought to be the final version Constable completed before starting his famous painting. Its presence in Texas, over 4,000 miles from where it was made, is a curiosity, though record-keeping for art in that era was less common.

Years of expert consultation and testing, including pigment analysis, confirmed the study's authenticity. Marianne Berardi of Heritage Auctions stated that the discovery "significantly deepens our understanding of how he developed one of his greatest masterpieces."