Cello belonging to artist John Constable to be played for first time in 100 years

Melanie Woodcock plays John Constable’s cello at the Christchurch Museum in Ipswich. Photograph: Ali Smith for the Guardian View image in fullscreen Melanie Woodcock plays John Constable’s cello at the Christchurch Museum in Ipswich. Photograph: Ali Smith for the Guardian Cello belonging to artist John Constable to be played for first time in 100 years Exclusive: Landscape painter was also a keen musician and played a cello made for him by his friend and mentor He was one of Britain’s greatest landscape painters, with masterpieces including The Hay Wain and View on the Stour near Dedham But John Constable was also a keen musician – and his personal cello, which he commissioned, is to be played in public for the first time in 100 years after its restoration. The instrument was made in 1802 and it is thought Constable may have played it in a local band in his home village of East Bergholt in Suffolk. 1802 was a significant year for the artist: it was when he wrote about becoming a “natural painter” and he had his first work accepted at the Royal Academy, catalogued as “A Landscape”. The cello was made by John Dunthorne Sr, who was the artist’s neighbour, early mentor and friend. He worked as a plumber, glazier and carpenter, but he was also a painter and skilled maker of musical instruments. The two men painted together, taking their easels into the lanes and fields of East Bergholt, and their letters reflect an enduring friendship. Constable reported his progress in the London art world, telling Dunthorne in 1799 that he had been accepted into the Royal Academy Schools. View image in fullscreen Constable’s sketchbook featuring a sketch of John Dunthorne Sr, the cello maker. Photograph: Victoria and Albert Museum Constable added: “I hope by the time the leaves are on the trees, I shall be better qualified to attack them than I was last summer.” A page in one of Constable’s sketchbooks bears a sketch of two musicians, including a cellist – possibly himself and his instrument, art historians suggest. Small wooden figures, thought to have been carved and painted by Constable in his youth, are believed to represent singers of the East Bergholt church choir. The cello entered the Ipswich Collection, owned by the local council, in 1942. It had been badly restored in 1926 and was no longer playable. Now, 100 years later, the Friends of Ipswich Museum have raised more than £4,000 to fund its restoration. Emma Roodhouse, a curator at Colchester and Ipswich Museums, said the instrument was recorded as having been made for Constable. “It’s remarkable in that it survives with all its fittings,” she said. “Dunthorne was really pivotal for Constable. He’s the figure early on in his career that encourages him and he’s the one that Constable turns to and writes some of his most poignant passages about the fact that he’s going to become this natural painter. But, as a working-class man who’s self-taught, I don’t think his story is as widely known.” One contemporary