A CONSTABLE painting bought for £3,500 has sold for £3.4million at auction.
The painting is thought to be one of John Constable’s preparatory works for Salisbury Cathedral From the Meadows, which hangs at the Tate gallery, in London.
After the preparatory sketch was sold and restored in 2013, the East Bergholt painter’s work was found underneath.
The artwork was auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York on Thursday and sold for one thousand times its original price.
It had been expected to fetch between £1.3million and £2million.
The painting was described as “heavily retouched” in a “misguided” attempt to finish Constable’s sketch.
It is thought the preparatory painting was completed a year before the renowned masterpiece was painted.
In 2013, the Tate headed a partnership of galleries and museums which wanted to buy the 6ft original canvas from a private owner for £23million.
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