'A complete surprise': 200-year-old John Constable painting rediscovered in Guernsey after 44 years

A painting by renowned English landscape artist John Constable has been rediscovered in Guernsey.

'View of the back of Willy Lott's House with Log-Cutter' was created in 1814, but had not been seen since 1979 when its whereabouts were last recorded.

Now, 44 years later, the painting has been found in a private collection by Martel Maides Auctions.

As its title suggests, the artwork depicts a house belonging to Willy Lott in Flatford, Suffolk, which became famous after it featured in Constable's most famous piece - The Hay Wain.

Jonathan Voak, a paintings specialist at Martel Maides Auctions, identified the artwork as one of Constable's.

Mr Voak says: "This is quite a discovery which amazingly turned up in Guernsey.

"Immediately it resonated with me and I thought, my golly, this really has possibilities.

"There are so many people that painted like him that actually finding something by him hidden in Guernsey is quite amazing."

The painting had been hanging in a dark corner of a room in a terraced house before it was brought to Mr Voak as part of a deceased estate.

• Sasha Constable tells ITV News that her great, great, great grandad was very "forward thinking" in his creativity and art.

Artist Sasha Constable is John Constable's great, great, great-granddaughter, and says the rediscovery came as a "complete surprise" and described it as "quite exciting!"

"It's a really nice little sketch, it's quite an interesting angle. It's one I haven't really seen before," she added.

"Usually you see Willy Lott's cottage on the left with the river coming forward but it's nice that the focus is on the tree."

Willy Lott's great, great, great-nephew, Brian Lott, has told ITV News that he "had no idea" that the painting existed.

Mr Lott is the author of a soon-to-be-published book titled ‘The Story of Willy Lott and his Cottage’.

He said: "[Constable] painted many sketches of Willy Lott's cottage and he used those sketches when he was in his studio in London to compose his big pictures - his six-footers.

"And it was not until The Hay Wain, the six-footer exhibited in 1821 in the Royal Academy Summer exhibition, that he really became recognised."

'View of the back of Willy Lott's House with Log-Cutter' is due to go under the hammer on 21 September with a guide price of £80-£120,000.

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