by Jon Lackman | 10 March 2006 | Modern
According to the Tate, recent x-radiography “of the full-scale sketch for View on the Stour near Dedham, painted by Constable in 1821-2, has revealed a number of significant compositional alterations including three figures in the foreground that are not visible on the surface of the work.” Conservator Sarah Cove remarks: “There has been much speculation about Constable’s sketches and whether he showed them to colleagues and friends, or kept them private … This confirms without doubt … that he did.”
