Landscape hung under stairs is ‘missing’ Constable worth £1.5m

TO THE untrained eye, it seemed like a pleasant landscape painting perfect for a spot on the wall under a staircase.

Imagine one home owner’s surprise when they discovered their painting was a genuine Constable, worth up to £1.5million, and the missing piece in the development of one of his famous works.

The oil sketch of Waterloo Bridge, now considered by experts to be by John Constable, has been “rediscovered” by Julian Gascoigne, a Sotheby’s specialist, who spotted it during a home visit. “That’s a very nice Constable,” he told its owners, making small talk as he got ready to leave their house. “What Constable?” replied the owner.

The painting is now known to have been in a treasure trove of works owned by Camille Groult, who established the most significant collection of British art in 19th-century France, and passed to his descendants.

The current owner, who does not want to be named, invited Sotheby’s to attend the house to see other paintings, unaware that their landscape was a genuine Constable. When Mr Gas- coigne spotted it, he said he – with permission – tucked it carefully under his arm and hopped in a taxi to take it back to the office for careful examination.

Following a process that took months, specialists were satisfied that it was the first preparatory sketch for The Opening of Waterloo Bridge.

The finished painting now hangs in Tate Britain, and is famous as the work Constable hung beside JMW Turner’s seascape in the 1832 Royal Academy exhibition. The sketch was known to ex- ist and was included in a 1984 Catalogue Raisonné, but its whereabouts were never known. “We can now see what Constable’s first thoughts were,” said Mr Gascoigne, of how the sketch contributed to knowledge of The Opening of Waterloo Bridge. “It’s very exciting. Working in the commercial art world, this is what you live for: the lure of finding something previously untraced.”

The painting is offered for sale tonight at Sotheby’s, London, for an estimate of £1million-£1.5million.

The oil sketch discovered by chance by a Sotheby’s expert during a home visit, and now recognised as a preliminary work for the artist’s The Opening of Waterloo Bridge, exhibited in 1832 and now on display at Tate Britain