Oil painting, 'An Old Suffolk Mill. Moonlight', British School, early 19th century

Oil on millboard painting. View of a heath. In the foreground, by a path, lies a millstone. In the middle distance stands an old wooden windmilll. The moon appears through heavy clouds.

Bequeathed by Constantine Alexander Ionides

Miss Constable's sale, or at least a sale of works of Constable, the property of Miss Isabel Constable, took place at Christies on June 17, 1892. Many of the oil paintings mentioned in the catalogue answer the title of the ionides picture. However lot 257, titled "Moonlight", bought by Leggat for £23-2-0 is identified with CAI.77.

According to his handwritten inventory (private collection), the last painting purchased by Constantine Alexander Ionides, on 14 July 1897 for £150 from the Leggatt Bros. (as attributed to Constable).
Bequeathed By Constantine Augustus Ionides 1901.

The painting is recorded in the V&A 1907 Inventory as attributed to Constable. This attribution was doubted by Basil Long in his inventory of the Ionides collection, from 1925. In his 1960 Catalogue of the Constable works at the V&A Reynolds does not attribute the painting to Constable.

Historical significance: According to the inventory list of the Ionides collection, made at the time of the Ionides bequest, there was an inscription on the back which reads: "by a Mr. Constable to whom it was left by Isabel in whose boudoir it used to hang". This inscription is no longer visible and has probably since been lost. There is a surviving inscription which reads: "Sketch of an old mill in Suffolk. Moonlight/John Constable, R.A. from the collection of Miss Constable." Both these inscriptions point to a provenance of Isabel Constable.

Isabel Constable was the last surviving child of John Constable, inheriting the majority of the family collection of her father's works. She bequeathed a large amount of this collection to The South Kensington Museum in 1888. This painting probably comes from the part of her collection which remained in her possession and was sold at auction following her death. The painting is thought to be Lot 257 "moonlight" at Christie's auction at 17 June 1892, which was bought by Leggatt Brothers for "23-2-0".

Inscriptions such as the lost one quoted in the Ionides inventory were often added by Isabel's family to give provenance to works believed to be by Constable prior to their sale. More recently some of these paintings have been reattributed, notably to John Constable's son Lionel Constable. Some evidence supports the notion that the grandchildren were adding these inscriptions in good faith, but a remark from Hugh Constable made many years after the sales suggest that pressure from art dealers had in some cases prompted these inscriptions to be put on the back (Parris et al. p. 98-101).

If CAI. 77 came from the Isabel Constable collection the artist could be from within the circle of John Constable's friends and family. However the style does not convincingly fit any known individual. In his book Constable and his influence on Landscape Painting published in 1902, Holmes discusses that most forgeries of John Constable's works are by unknown hands (p.234). CAI.77 resembles A Deserted Milll from Lord Windsor's collection, which he reproduced in his book Constable published in 1903 is identified by in Parris and William-Fleming The Discovery of Constable, (p. 110) as an example of the numerous Constable forgeries, which were produced in the 1890's. These forgeries appeared in response to the growing number of sales of Constable's works at the end of the nineteenth century. Holmes warned about the growing number of fakes and forgeries in his 1902 book on Constable (see pages 237-238).

The purchase of CAI.77 by Ionides occurred at a time when it was becoming fashionable to collect works by Constable. According to the Inventory record of Ionides collection, Ionides had bought in October 1896 a " 3 vol. life of Constable complete set of D. Lucas" for 210 poundsfrom Leggatt Bros. Ionides' interest in the artist also reflects the reputation Constable had following his death. Constable was seen as a predecessor and inspiration to the Barbizon School. Ionides had a number of works from the this school in his collection. The acquisition of CAI. 77 as a Constable by Ionides and then by the South Kensington Museums a few years later shows the difficulty at this time in distinguishing between John Constable's works from imitations and forgeries. The mezzotints by David Lucas were generally more chiaroscuro in effect than Constable's oils. These would have brought Constable's works to a wider audience and could have led people to accept a work as CAI. 77 as an authentic Constable.

References:

Holmes, C. J., Constable and his influence on Landscape Painting, London, 1902, pp.234, 237, 238.

Fleming-Williams, I, and Parris, L., The Discovery of Constable London, 1984, pp.98-101,110.

Formerly attributed to John Constable

CAI.77