A Drawing by John Constable

A pencil and watercolour drawing by John Constable (1776-1837) is to go under the hammer at Tennants Auctioneers, with an estimate of £6,000-9,000 (all figures exclude buyer’s premium). Depicting Buckden in Cambridgeshire, the sketch was executed by the masterly landscape painter in 1832 during the later stage of his extraordinary career, around the time of one of his greatest masterpieces Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows and when his drawing style had become freer and more expressive. The work is sold with provenance from a Private Collection in North Yorkshire having been purchased in 1965 from John Mitchell and Son in London, and will be offered in the British, European and Sporting Art Sale on 14^th November.

The sale also offers a rich and varied selection of portraits dating from the 17^th to the early 20^th century. Two of the most significant portraits in the sale are sold with provenance from Lady Walker of the Isle of Man. Firstly, a Portrait of Sir James Robert Milo Walker by the renowned Scottish portraitist Sir Francis Grant (1803-1878) will be offered with an estimate of £6,000-9,000. The sitter, who was the second baronet, is depicted in his Hussar uniform, standing with his troop in the distance. From an earlier generation is a Portrait of Alice by another well connected Scottish portraitist, Allan Ramsay (1713-1784), on offer with an estimate of £4,000-6,000. Alice (nee Godwin), was the wife of James Walker FRS.

Amongst eighteen further works in the sale with provenance from Lady Walker are “Venezia” by Emma Ciardi (1879-1933), who was from a family of artists in Venice, and known for her neo-18^th century subject matter (estimate: £3,000-5,000), and a pair of hunting scenes by the well known sporting artist John Nost Sartorius (1759-1828) – The Standing Leap and The Flying Leap (estimate: £1,000-1,500).

A Still Life of Flowers Displayed Within a Niche attributed to Jan Weenix the Younger (1640-1719) is being offered with an estimate of £12,000-18,000. The Dutch artist is known to have painted arrangements of flowers with wilting petals and withered leaves from the 1670s, and a comparable example is held in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford.

Over twenty lots in the sale have been consigned from a Private Collection in Norfolk, which focus on subjects of a sporting or animal nature. Highlights of the collection include “Becher’s Brook, Grand National, 1959” by Lionel Edwards (1878-1966), which depicts the moment before the jockey J Lehane fell from ‘Valiant Spark’, bringing down the Whitbread Gold Cup winner ‘Done Up’ (estimate: £2,000-3,000). Three examples of the work of the important Scottish artist David Gauld (1865-1936) are also on offer, including Two Calves by a Water’s Edge (estimate: £1,200-1,800), and also with a Scottish connection is “The Lily Pond” by Charles Oppenheimer (1875-1961), the artist having spent much of his career living and working in Kirkcudbright (estimate: £2,000-3,000).

A final highlight of the sale is “The Rival Boats” by Robert Gemmell Hutchison (1855-1936), a charming depiction of children playing with their toy boats at the water’s edge (estimate: £2,500-4,000). The Scottish landscape artist was part of the British Impressionist movement and is known for his coastal scenes.

View Sale