A long-lost sketch by a famous artist created on his travels through Kent is expected to fetch thousands after being found in an old suitcase.

The drawing of Dover Harbour with the castle in the distance was created by landscape artist John Constable 220 years ago.

It was recently found in a smashed frame in an old suitcase during a house clearance in Leeds.

The late owners of the property had failed to recognise that their unsigned picture was a long-lost genuine piece.

The pencil drawing is one of a series of sketches that Constable made in April 1803 when he spent a month on board the Coutts, an East Indiaman captained by his father’s friend Robert Torin, as the ship worked its way along the coast from London to Deal before departing for China.

The sketch is now set to be sold at auction in Scarborough on Friday.

Dominic Cox from auctioneers David Duggleby said: “Thanks to a letter that Constable sent to a friend, we know that the sketch was done on the last day of the trip.

“He wrote ‘I came on shore at Deal, walked to Dover (about one and a half hours) and the next day returned to London’.

“It’s thought that Constable made as many as 130 drawings on the voyage although the whereabouts of less than fifty are known today.”

“Actually, it was only by the greatest good fortune that any of them survived.

“Constable had to get off the ship in a hurry when the decision to depart for China was taken and he left his carefully wrapped parcel of drawings behind.

“Luckily they were recovered before they went east.”

Drawings from Constable’s 1803 trip have previously made astonishing amounts of money.

His sketch of HMS Victory on the Medway sold for £216,000 some years ago.

However, the view of Dover is not expected to fetch as much with the estimate set between £2,000 and £3,000.

Mr Cox added: “The sketch is a detailed view across the water of Dover harbour towards the quayside buildings, with the Castle high above the town and the cliffs stretching away into the distance.

“The location is identified at the bottom right and the year is lightly marked in the sky top right.”

“The backing of the framed drawing bears the label of The Little Gallery of Kensington Church Walk in London, a gallery that was in business in the early 1970s and specialised in the sketches and drawings of big-name artists that were far more readily available at that period than they are today.

“Their label is also inscribed in ink ‘John Constable (1776-1837), Dover, circa 1803, pencil’.”

“The frame glass was smashed when the drawing was found in a suitcase during the deceased estate house clearance so the drawing was removed whilst repairs were made and it was then discovered that the back of the drawing itself bore the handwritten inscription ‘J Constable’.

“That is an old inscription, perhaps added when members of his family sold off drawings and sketches after his death in 1837.

“It is not Constable’s signature.”