J. M. W. Turner, The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, c. 1835, oil on canvas, Philadelphia Museum of Art. License
Just last year, a seemingly ordinary oil painting, attributed to a “follower of Julius Caesar Ibbetson,” an 18th-century British painter, sold for £400 ($506) at Dreweatts auction house in London. The buyer initially believed the piece to be that of Philippe Jacques de Loutherbourg’s, a French refugee and painter living in London. However, when the painting was sent out for cleaning, it was returned to its new owners with J. M. W. Turner’s signature freshly revealed.
From June 28th to July 1st, the rare piece will now be exhibited to the public at Sotheby's in London, before being auctioned off next month. The asking price is between £200,000–£300,000 ($270,000–$400,000).
The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent's Rock, Bristol is one of the earliest works by Turner, painted when he was only a 17-year-old student at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. It was also Turner’s first oil painting to have been publicly exhibited at the Royal Academy in the spring of 1793, mere days before he turned 18.
The ominous piece with its billowing clouds and choppy waters is thought to have been based on some of Turner’s sketches– currently held at Tate Britain– and depicts the original foundation of Hot Wells House, a popular spa and hot springs destination in Bristol.
Reverend Robert Nixon was lucky enough to first acquire the painting shortly after its production. Not only was he a patron of Turner’s, but also a friend who encouraged all of Turner’s artistic endeavors. After Nixon’s passing, the piece was inherited by his son, the Reverend Dr. Francis Russell Nixon, Lord Bishop of Tasmania, who likely helped to organize the painting’s appearance in its last known exhibition in Tasmania in 1858. Following this, the piece was tucked away in a private collection for close to 150 years.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, Fishermen at Sea, 1796, oil on canvas. License
Turner led a very private– and what some may call controversial– life, having two children out of wedlock. He traveled around Europe for a number of years, opened his own gallery in 1804, and became a professor at the Royal Academy of Arts, teaching classes on perspective. He lived to be 76 years old.
The only mention of The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent's Rock, Bristol was found later in Turner’s obituary, but Sotheby's senior specialist, Julian Gascoigne, noted that it was mistakenly referred to as a watercolor. This meant that the work was not listed in the artist’s oil painting index. Thus, Turner’s first oil painting on record was his 1796 piece, Fisherman at Sea. Now, with this new piece uncovered, Gascoigne believes “it changes a lot of what we know, or thought we knew, about Turner’s early work and our understanding of how his technique and style evolved.”
