AN oil painting potentially created by renowned 19th century artist John Constable is undergoing ground-breaking scientific tests in Bradford.
The painting, called Sandpit, is the latest of three works to be tested by Dr Alex Surtees, lecturer in forensic science at the University of Bradford.
To decipher the painting's origins, the university has access to high-tech equipment - including a CT scanner.
Dr Surtees carried out preliminary tests on Sandpit last summer, with further analysis taking place this year.
He said he cannot categorically prove himself that the three paintings he is studying are by John Constable.
But the scientific techniques Dr Surtees uses can provide the identity of the pigments used in the paintings. This provides evidence leading to who its artist may have been.
Once completed, the tests and data findings from Sandpit will be given to the painting's UK-based private owners this summer.
Dr Surtees' findings will then be presented by the owner to experts in John Constable's work in a bid to discover if the painting can be verified as one of his pieces.
Dr Surtees, who previously worked as an analytical chemist, said: "I am looking to identify the pigments. The painting features the sort of pigments that John Constable would have used on his palette.
"It is certainly a ground-breaking combination of techniques, even for traditional scientific tests. Using the CT scanner is the same type that a person would be scanned through in a hospital.
"We can't prove if the paintings are by John Constable, or not, that is up to the experts."
He added: "It's certainly very exciting.
"I am proud to be recognised as someone who has the scientific expertise to do it.
"If I can be involved in the actual verification on work being a John Constable, then I would be very proud.
"This is me helping the art world make a decision."
Sandpit shows a scene from Henfield, a market town in West Sussex, featuring a rural landscape in the foreground with labourers working among animals, while the painting's background shows hills and a blue sky.
John Constable was known as a renowned landscape artist, particularly his works of Denham Vale National Landscape, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty located on the Essex-Suffolk border, which was near his home. He died aged 60 in 1837.
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