Update: J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851) The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol has achieved a staggering £1.9 million ($2.6 million) at Sotheby’s Old Masters and 19th Century Paintings evening auction in London. The lot saw heavy competition among four bidders, according to the auction house, before a private UK collector bought the painting for more than six times its high estimate of £300,000 ($400,000).
This was the artist’s first exhibited oil painting. It reappeared after vanishing into private hands in 1858. Painted when Turner was just 17, this long-misattributed work will be shown at Sotheby’s (28 June – 1 July) before its auction on 2 July (estimate: £200,000-300,000).
Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1793 (three days after Turner’s 18th birthday), the painting predates Fisherman at Sea – long believed to be his earliest oil – by three years. Its recent rediscovery during restoration, including the revelation of Turner’s signature, corrects a centuries-old oversight in the artist’s catalogue.
The scene, based on Turner’s early sketchbook studies (now at Tate Britain), captures Hot Wells House, a fashionable Georgian spa. Already, his signature interplay of architecture and atmosphere emerges – a theme that would define his career. Commissioned by Reverend Robert Nixon – a family friend who encouraged Turner’s shift to oils – the work was painted in Nixon’s home, where biographers claim the artist created his first oil. After Nixon died in 1837, the painting vanished, only to be later misidentified as a watercolour in academic texts.
“Seeing it now,” says Dr. James Finch, Sotheby’s Senior Old Masters Specialist, “you’re struck by the audacity. This isn’t a student piece – it’s a fully formed statement from a boy who’d already decided to conquer art.”
The exhibition coincides with the artist’s 250th birth anniversary and features another rarity: a Lake Geneva watercolour (estimate: £400,000-600,000), last exhibited in 1906. Once owned by Turner’s patron, Walter Fawkes, and later by shipping magnate Sir Donald Currie, its delicate light effects showcase the young artist’s precocious talent.
For scholars, the reunion of these works offers fresh insights into Turner’s meteoric rise. For collectors, it’s a chance to own a pivotal moment in British art – one that spent 167 years hiding in plain sight.
UPDATE:
In a show of public will and cultural urgency, over 1,450 individuals rallied in just five days to raise more than £100,000 in support of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery’s bid to acquire J.M.W. Turner’s The Rising Squall, a recently rediscovered canvas by the British master. The painting, set to go under the hammer at Sotheby’s London on 2 July, has stirred national interest, not only for its artistic significance but for the growing call to keep major works in public ownership.
Donations came in across the spectrum, from modest contributions of £2 to a single gift of £15,000, reflecting both the democratic nature of the appeal and the widespread belief that the painting belongs within public reach. The campaign, backed by a blend of local pride and national support, highlights a growing desire to resist the loss of culturally significant works to private collectors or overseas buyers.
If successful, the museum will be the first UK public institution to hold the work, a stormy seascape believed to be an early precursor to Turner’s later expressive treatment of elemental drama.
The Rising Squall will be on view at Sotheby’s London, 28 June – 1 July 2025.
Image Credit: J.M.W. Turner, The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol (1792). Courtesy Sotheby’s