John Constable, R.A.

This drawing seems likely to have once formed part of a now dismembered sketchbook that Constable used in August of 1806 when staying with his aunt, Mrs Gubbins, and her family at Hylands near Epsom, Surrey.¹ During this period, he also worked in a second book, which survives intact in the Louvre, Paris.²

An earlier owner of this drawing was John Postle Heseltine, who was born in Norfolk, England. He was a stockbroker and senior partner in his family firm, which had been co-founded by his father. A talented amateur artist, he was a trustee of London's National Gallery from 1893 until his death in 1929. He formed a major collection of paintings, drawings and watercolors which included works from both the British and Continental schools. Prize works included examples by Rembrandt, Rubens, Raphael, Michelangelo and Holbein. In 1912 he sold his collection to the London dealer Colnaghi & Obach for a price of nearly $1,000,000.³

^1. For other sheets from the disbanded sketchbook see: G. Reynolds, The Early Paintings and Drawings of John Constable, New Haven 1996, 06.87,06.91-103

2. Ibid., no. 06.86. 

3. See Marconi, The New York Times, 23 October 1912