J.M.W. Turner’s The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol – the artist’s first exhibited oil painting – has 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.
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