John Constable oil sketch in September sale

An oil sketch by John Constable, previously unpublished, is set to go under the hammer for the first time in seven decades when it is offered at Woolley & Wallis in Wiltshire this September.

The sketch, entitled The Gravel Pits at Hampstead, was painted between 1820 and 1822. The artist had taken up lodgings in the area during the period in order to improve his family’s health and wellbeing.

“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. “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 has not been offered at auction since it sold at Sotheby’s in 1952. 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 mostly refused to sell his sketches meaning that 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”.

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.

The painting is due to be sold on September 4 in Salisbury, with an estimate of £50,000–80,000.