John Constable's personal cello, commissioned by the artist in 1802, will be played in public for the first time in a century after a restoration funded by the Friends of Ipswich Museum. The instrument, made by Constable's neighbor and mentor John Dunthorne Sr., had been unplayable since a botched repair in 1926. Restorers James and Sylvie Fawcett, along with cellist Melanie Woodcock, have revived the cello, which is believed to have been played by Constable in a local band in East Bergholt, Suffolk.
This matters because it sheds new light on Constable's life beyond his iconic landscapes like 'The Hay Wain,' revealing his passion for music and his deep friendship with Dunthorne, a self-taught artisan whose story has been largely overlooked. The cello's restoration not only preserves a rare artifact of Constable's personal history but also highlights the interconnectedness of art and music in the Romantic era, offering a tangible connection to the artist's creative world.