John Constable’s masterpiece “The Lock” will lead Sotheby’s Old Master & British Paintings Sale on December 9, 2015. Last seen on the market in 1855 and having remained in the same family collection for more than 150 years, the monumental 55 x 48 inch painting is being offered with an estimate of £8-12 million.
“The Lock” is one of a small series of landscapes known as the “Six Footers.” It depicts a bucolic scene on the River Stour in the artist’s native Suffolk and was painted in response to the huge critical acclaim the first version of the painting received when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1824. According to Sotheby’s, the painting was treasured by the artist who retained the work in his studio until the end of his life.
David Moore-Gywn, British Paintings consultant to Sotheby’s, said: “For many people, Constable captures, like no other artist, the essence and beauty of the English countryside. This is quite simply one of the most loved and celebrated works in the history of British Art and also one of a very small handful of great Constables still in private hands.”
Julian Gascoigne, Sotheby’s Senior British Pictures specialist, said: “This breath-taking painting belongs, together with The Hay Wain, to the small group of pictures that for many define Constable’s career. Constable’s absolute mastery as a landscape painter is everywhere in this picture – in the vigour of the almost impressionistic brushwork, in the drama of the clouds and the changing weather, even in the movement of the grass in the fields and the sparkle of water as it cascades through the lock. It is one of those pictures that captivates, and the more one looks, the more one sees.”
