A fifth version of John Constable's The Glebe Farm has been discovered by art experts.
The painting was initially believed to be a 'copy' and was sold at an auction in Cincinnati, Ohio, last year for £40,000.
Art experts now believe it was painted by Constable and it will be sold at Sotheby's Old Masters auction on December 8 with an estimated value of £3million to £5million.
A fifth version (pictured) of John Constable's The Glebe Farm has been discovered by art experts
The painting is based on an oil sketch of the home of Constable’s old friend and supporter Dr John Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury.
Fisher’s death in 1825 prompted Constable to return to the sketch and produce multiple oil paintings of the scene.
The painting disappeared around 1867, but resurfaced in Cincinnati in 1922 and was bought by the industrialist Edward William Edwards.
One version (pictured) of The Glebe Farm is housed at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the other three versions are at the Tate Gallery, London. Pictured: Detroit version
It was inherited by his grandson, Thomas Edwards Davidson, who died in 1994 and was then sold by his descendants last year.
'The family clearly forgot, or just didn't realise what they had.
'It's amazing, really, that in this day and age these things happen and there are still these great masterpieces out there, undiscovered and unknown,' Julian Gascoigne, Sotheby's director of early British paintings, told the Sunday Times.
The painting was initially believed to be a 'copy' and was sold at an auction in Cincinnati, Ohio, last year for £40,000. Pictured: Tate version
Art experts now believe it was painted by Constable and it will be sold at Sotheby's Old Masters auction on December 8 with an estimated value of £3million to £5million. Pictured: Tate version
The painting is based on an oil sketch of the home of Constable’s old friend and supporter Dr John Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury. Pictured: Tate version
Constable is famous for his landscape paintings and is recognised as one of Britain's greats. Pictured: Oil painting of John Constable by Ramsay Richard Reinagle that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, London
One version of The Glebe Farm is housed at the Detroit Institute of Arts and the other three versions are at the Tate.
This new version is believed to have been painted in 1828
