The chalk and watercolor drawing A House and Haystack at Flatford (A House and Haystack at Flatford) by John Constable (East Bergholt, 1776 -London, 1837), which belonged to the artist’s family and close friends for nearly two centuries, sold today for£71 ,740 (about€81 ,784 ) during the Old Master, British & European Pictures auction organized by Roseberys. The work, estimated at between £20,000 and £30,000, generated strong competition among online and telephone bidders, confirming the exceptional rarity of works on paper by Constable with direct family provenance.
“Works on paper by Constable rarely come up for auction, and those with direct family provenance are even rarer. This result reflects both the quality of the drawing and the strong demand for fresh material related to the artist’s personal circle,” commented Lara L’vov-Basirov, associate director and head of the Old Masters department.
The drawing, dated Oct. 13, 1827 and signed by the artist with the inscription “Flatford / 13 Oct / 1827,” had been given to Constable’s second son, Charles Golding Constable. The scene depicts the Warden’s House, also known as Valley Farm, a 15th-century wooden half-timbered house located near Flatford Mill, Suffolk. After Charles’s death in 1878, the drawing passed to his widow Anna Maria Constable (née Blundell) and later to a family friend, James Henry Beazley.
“This sketch was given to the late James Beazley by the widow or a relative of the artist Constable, in gratitude for a small favor he had rendered her,” reads a label on the back.
Since then the work has remained in Beazley’s lineage without ever appearing on the market. Constable showed an abiding connection to the Suffolk landscape throughout his career. Although based in London, the artist regularly returned to the Stour Valley and Dedham Vale, immortalizing in his paintings the places surrounding Flatford Mill, which would become iconic in works such as The Hay Wain (1821). The sheet is executed on 1824 Whatman paper from a sketchbook known to have been used by Constable during his 1827 visits to Flatford. The work is recorded in the Graham Reynolds catalogs but had never before been offered to the public.
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| Drawing by John Constable sold for £71,740 after 200 years in private collection |
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