Turner's earliest exhibited oil painting is up for auction after disappearing for 150 years

Published on 06/06/2025 - 16:59 GMT+2

Lost for complete 150 years, 1 of JMW Turner’s earliest lipid paintings is astir to spell connected show astatine London’s Sotheby’s earlier being auctioned. 

Titled ‘The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol’, it depicts a melodramatic stormy segment engulfing Hot Wells House successful Bristol, UK - arsenic seen from nan eastbound slope of nan River Avon, wherever nan Clifton Suspension Bridge now sits. 

Painted by Turner erstwhile he was conscionable 17 years old, it is now believed to beryllium nan artist's earliest exhibited lipid painting, having been displayed astatine nan Royal Academy accumulation successful 1793.

Its past nationalist quality was successful 1858, astatine an accumulation successful Tasmania, earlier disappearing into backstage collections for complete a period and a half. Upon being rediscovered past year, Turner's signature was revealed during nan restoration process.

“Its reemergence now allows viewers and scholars alike to admit nan startling ambition of this awesome creator astatine specified an early infinitesimal successful his career, by which shape he is already demonstrating a level of assurance and competency successful lipid coating acold beyond what was antecedently known,” a property merchandise states. 

The coating will spell connected nationalist show astatine Sotheby’s successful London from 28 June to 1 July 2025, up of being auctioned for an estimated worth of £200,000-300,000 (approx. €237,544 to €356,316). 

The auction besides coincides pinch nan 250th day of Turner's birth, arsenic various exhibitions and events crossed nan UK - including London's Tate, National Gallery and nan Turner Contemporary - celebrate nan artist's legacy.

Considered 1 of nan world's astir influential 18th-century artists, Turner was a cardinal fig wrong Romanticism and champion known for his melodramatic landscapes, ambient pinch bold colour and tumultuous skies. 

While 'The Rising Squall' had antecedently been referenced successful obituaries, it was mistaken arsenic a watercolour and truthful excluded from nan first catalogue of Turner's exhibited lipid paintings.

Based connected a drafting from nan artist's earliest sketchbook and a watercolour, some of which are presently held astatine nan Tate Britain, nan artwork is believed to person been first acquired by, and perchance painted for, Reverend Robert Nixon - a friend and early protagonist of Turner’s. 

Before now, experts considered Turner’s earliest exhibited lipid coating to beryllium nan ‘Fisherman astatine Sea’, displayed astatine nan Royal Academy successful 1796.