A sketch by the English landscape artist John Constable that was found in a suitcase during a house clearance is to be sold at auction.
The pencil sketch, a view across Dover Harbour towards the castle above the town, is more than 200 years old. It is one of a series of sketches the artist made in April 1803 during a voyage on the East India Company ship Coutts from London to Deal.
In a letter to his friend John Dunthorne dated 23 May 1803, Constable wrote: “I came on shore at Deal, walked to Dover (about one and a half hours) and the next day returned to London.”
It is believed Constable made as many as 130 sketches during his trip onboard the ship. Most have disappeared.
The Dover sketch was found in a smashed frame in an old suitcase in a house in the Leeds-York area that was being cleared after the death of the owner. The back of the drawing is inscribed “J Constable”, probably in the handwriting of John Fisher, his friend and patron, who on Constable’s death dispersed many sketches and scrapbooks.
Dominic Cox, of the auctioneers David Duggleby, said: “The sketch is a detailed view across the water of Dover harbour towards the quayside buildings, with the castle high above the town and the cliffs stretching away into the distance. The location is identified at the bottom right and the year is lightly marked in the sky top right.”
It was “only by the greatest good fortune” that any of Constable’s sketches from the trip survived, he told the Yorkshire Post. “Constable had to get off the ship in a hurry when the decision to depart for China was taken and he left his carefully wrapped parcel of drawings behind. Luckily they were recovered before they ended up in the far east.”
The sketch has a pre-sale estimate of £2,000-£3,000.