A long-lost, large-scale oil study by John Constable for his famous painting *The Cornfield* has been rediscovered and authenticated after decades in a rural Texas museum. Scientific analysis, including pigment tests and infrared reflectography, confirmed the materials and techniques match Constable's own, leading experts to declare it the largest known study for the 1826 masterpiece. The work, which had been mistakenly cataloged as a copy, will now be auctioned by Heritage Auctions in Dallas this June.
This discovery is significant as it reshapes art historical understanding of Constable's creative process for a key Romantic landscape. The study's existence and its journey from a New York gallery to a Texas historical society in the 1960s highlight the unpredictable paths artworks can take. Its authentication not only adds a major work to Constable's known oeuvre but also provides new insights into the development of one of his most important compositions, complicating previous scholarly narratives.