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

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.