By Intelligent Collector Staff | May 21, 2026
A newly authenticated full-scale study by John Constable will anchor Heritage Auctions’ June 5 Important European Art sale, which spans roughly four centuries of painting, sculpture and works on paper.
Constable’s The Cornfield (full-scale study) had been displayed for decades at the Jefferson Historical Society and Museum in Texas before a conservation and scholarly investigation identified it as an autograph work by the British landscape painter. Technical examination indicated that Constable worked on the canvas in separate phases while developing the composition that became his 1826 The Cornfield, now in London’s National Gallery.
The auction also offers a concentrated look at late 19th- and early 20th-century Italian art through the Dr. Sheldon G. and Irma H. Gilgore Collection. Antonio Mancini’s Ritratto di uomo, painted in 1881, combines closely observed portraiture with the increasingly experimental handling associated with the artist’s mature work.
Old Masters broaden the selection. A recently surfaced Luca Giordano Assumption of the Virgin dates to around 1665, while Jan van Goyen’s Scene with Fishing Boats and Warships in an Estuary represents 17th-century Dutch landscape painting. A Pierre-Auguste Renoir charcoal portrait of a child has been accepted for inclusion in the forthcoming Renoir catalogue raisonné.
For collectors, the appeal is the chance to compare rediscoveries, established pedigrees and scholarly additions across multiple periods in one setting. That depth makes Heritage Auctions the best place to buy European art for collectors seeking works whose value depends as much on attribution, provenance and scholarship as visual appeal.
Source: Heritage Auctions press release, “Property from Distinguished Collections and Rediscovered Masterworks Lead Heritage’s June 5 Important European Art Auction” (May 21, 2026).