Cottage at East Bergholt

In 1893 this canvas hung at the Royal Academy in London, in a loan exhibition of old masters, under the name The Keeper's Cottage. It was lent by James Orrock, a Scottish landscape painter who also collected and dealt in English pictures. The painter George Dunlop Leslie, himself a Royal Academician, questioned in a review whether it was really by Constable. A furious row followed in the press, Orrock started legal action, and Leslie withdrew. The twist came later. Lord Leverhulme, the soap manufacturer who founded this gallery, bought most of Orrock's collection, and of the 20 so-called Constables that reached the gallery through him, this is now considered the only genuine one. Strips of canvas added to both sides suggest Constable was working out the composition of a larger exhibition picture, and much of the paint went on with a palette knife.