August 28, 2007
Constable sketch discovered
A lost sketch by John Constable, never recorded in the catalogues of his work, has tumbled with a cascade of other drawings and letters from volumes which the British Library has owned for almost a century.Read the rest in the Guardian.The library has only just appreciated the scale of its bequest from John Platt, a wealthy textile manufacturer who became a serious art collector, who died in 1902, leaving many of his magnificently bound volumes to the British Museum. The delicate little pencil drawing of Hyam Church in the artist's native Suffolk, bought from his grandson 50 years after his death, has been hidden among the pages of one of the books ever since.
Posted by David on August 28, 2007 3:17 PM
This should probably be "Higham" church, not Hyam. Higham is, or was when I last visited it 30 years ago, a tiny hamlet about one mile from Stratford St. Mary on the Suffolk/Essex border and deep in Constable country. Constable had produced sketches of Stratford, but was most famous, of course, for his paintings in the Vale of Dedham. Higham is about 2 miles from the town of Dedham.
Posted by: Paul D'Eath on September 4, 2007 2:52 PM
The original name of the place may have been High Ham. If the artist then hears the name spoken but doesn't see it in writing----Hyam.
Posted by: Tom H on November 11, 2007 11:42 AM
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