Looted Constable returned by Tate heads to auction at Christie’s

A John Constable oil painting deaccessioned by the Tate as Nazi-era loot is coming up for sale at Christies, London on 8 December, with an estimate of 500,000-800,000. Entitled Beaching a Boat, Brighton (1824), it is being sold by the heirs of Baron Ferenc Hatvany.The Constable painting had been donated to the Tate in 1986 by a Mrs P.M. Rainsford. There was then a gap in its provenance from 1908 to 1962. A few years ago a Nazi-era claim was made by the Hatvany heirs and in March 2014 the UKs Sp