Rare Constable sketch could depict scene of his most famous work 'The Hay Wain'

Cottage in the Wood, €30,000-€50,000, for auction on Wednesday, might well be Willy Lott's cottage on the banks of the Stour, says former Crawford Gallery curator 

John Constable's 'Cottage in the Wood' (1832) at Sheppard's.

A rare oil sketch by John Constable leads the Sheppard's sale of Irish and international art in Durrow this  Wednesday (June 10).
The artist painted the sketch, Cottage in the Wood (1832), en plein air, and according to former Crawford Gallery curator Dr Peter Murray, it most likely depicts Dedham Vale, and this might well be Willy Lott's cottage on the banks of the Stour near Flatford Mill, scene of Constable's most famous work, The Hay Wain. 

The estimate is €30,000-€50,000. 

This varied auction of 436 lots has work by David Hockney, Gerard Byrne, Arthur Maderson, Kenneth Webb, Henry Albert Hartland, Mildred Anne Butler, Louis le Brocquy, John Behan, Sean Scully and two works by emerging Dingle-based artist Honora O'Neill. 

The sale is on view in Durrow, and the catalogue is online.

The three most expensively estimated lots at Gormleys Irish and international art auction next Tuesday evening, at €10,000-€15,000, are by JB Vallely, Colin Middleton and Andy Warhol. They are titled respectively Five Fiddles, Female Figure and Portrait and Love FS II.310. 

Colin Middleton's 'Female Figure and Portrait' at Gormleys.

Among 165 works are a study for a portrait of John Edwards by Francis Bacon, Les Fleurs du Mal by Georges Rouault, Five Faces of Eric Clapton by Patti Boyd and a seascape doodle on a restaurant napkin by Mohammed Ali. 

There is art by Markey Robinson, Mildred Anne Butler, Jack B Yeats, Mainie Jellett, Basil Blackshaw, Gladys MacCabe, Hector McDonnell, John Shinnors, Nano Reid and many more. The catalogue is online.

John Constable's 'Cottage in the Wood' (1832) at Sheppard's.