Another watercolour of the same period, similar scale, provenance (Dr. H.A.C. Gregory and Agnews)and much shared exhibition history was recently sold at Sotheby’s in London. It shared an intensity of vision, and powerfully tempestuous skies dwarfing the human habitations below, characteristic of these rare late works on paper and exhibiting Constable’s highly expressive use of watercolour, especially in the skies.

This rare and refined Hampstead watercolour by Constable shows a three storeyed house in Hampstead set against a stormy sky and a group of fir trees, most likely Well Walk where the artist’s house was located. The house still stands and closely resembles the house depicted in this beautiful watercolour. A work of the same period in the British Museum portrays the view from his Well Walk house over London. In 1820, Constable moved his family to Hampstead. For 20 years, the area,in particular the expanded skies of Hampstead Heath, became a favourite subject for his sketches and paintings. Constable used these sketches to familiarise himself with every aspect of nature, they are unselfconscious, highly personal records of his observations; few of them were intended for publicview. This work is thought to date from the final decade of his life, when he was particularly concerned with capturing the appearance of moving light and the transitory effects of the sky. Unlike earlier sky studies that were in oils and looked more at the shapes of clouds, the majority of studies from this period are in watercolour, the medium Constable began to use increasingly during this period.

Dr, H.A.C Gregory was a respected collector of Constable works. He owned some of Constable’s greatest masterpieces, as well as many portraits, oil sketches, watercolours and drawings. He was generous in putting his collection at the Arts Council’s disposal on two separate occasions. These public exhibitions were responsible for enhancing the reputation of Constable’s work. Appreciation for his cloudscapes and landscape sketches grew significantly when his influence of the Impressionists chool began to be recognised.

In 2000, Graham Reynolds, author of The Later Paintings and Drawings of John Constable confirmedthe attribution and suggested that it was drawn in the 1830s. He offered two drawings from thecollections of the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum as comparisons. Dr Annie Lyles has seen the drawing in person in June 2019 and confirms that Constable executed thiswork.

Accompanied by a letter of authenticity from Graham Reynolds.