Experts think the sketch dates to between 1809 and 1814. TennantsA previously unknown oil sketch by the renowned British landscape artistJohn Constable is headed to auction. The early 19th-century artwork depicts Dedham Vale, a green, sprawling valley some 70 miles northeast of London. Its thought to be an early draft of Constables 1815 paintingView of Dedham Vale From East Bergholt.The 12- by 15-inch sketch will be sold at Tennants Auctioneers next month, and its expected to fetch as much as 200,000 (about $250,000), according to astatement from the auction house. Constables impressive and vigorous earlyplein-air sketch depicts the green, rolling countryside near his childhood home. I shall never cease to paint such places, he laterwrote. They have always been my delight.Oil sketches, much like drawings, have an immediacya direct link to the mind and working practices of an artist, says Jane Tennant, director and auctioneer with Tennants, in the statement. As she tells BBC News Georgia Levy-Collins, It will cause great excitement, no doubt, in the auction world. The sketch may be an early draft of Constable's View of Dedham Vale From East Bergholt(1815). Bavarian State Painting Collections, MunichBorn in1776, a young Constable first learned to paint from a Suffolk plumber and amateur artist. Growing up, he sketched the countryside: Its natural scenes made me a painter, and I am grateful, he laterwrote. The sound of water escaping from mill dams willows, old rotten planks, slimy posts and brickwork. I love such things.Constable began studying art in 1802 at theRoyal Academy Schools, where he rejected classical landscape painting styles in favor of the guidance of nature herself. When he returned home, Constable developed a colorful and highly expressive oil sketching style, which is evident in the piece being auctioned, per the statement.Executed when he was just starting out on his extraordinary career, he has managed to imbue the sketchily painted landscape with such vitality with his deft handling of dramatic light and shade, says the auction house.Based on the sketchs style, experts have dated it to between 1809 and 1814, as Tennant says in a video. The piece depicts Dedham Vale from the north, looking towards the nearby village of Langham. Compared to similarly dated Constable sketches, this one has a more dramatic use of light and shade, exemplified by a burst of sunlight through the clouds illuminating the bottom of the valley, Tennant adds.An Early Sketch by John ConstableWatch on She suggests that the sketch is an early version of Constables finished painting, View of Dedham Vale From East Bergholt. The final painting includes additional people and animals in the foreground but keeps the same sunlight breaking through distant clouds.Constables artistic attraction to nature was imbued with sentimentality. As he oncewrote to a friend, I should paint my own places bestpainting is but another word for feeling. Due to the artists special attention to Dedham Vale, the area earned the moniker Constable Country.Its not every day that a work by Constable comes to auction, as Tennant tellsArtnets Brian Boucher. Though the sketchs owners always knew it to be a Constable work, it hasnt previously been recorded in the literature, she adds. But as we have seen time and time again, thats what makes the art world interesting!Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.Filed Under: Art, Art History, Artists, Arts, Auctions, British History, England, Nature, Painters, Painting, Visual Arts