In 2024, a modest looking landscape appeared at Dreweatts in Newbury, catalogued simply as the work of a “follower of Julius Caesar Ibbetson” and given the generic title House by the water under a stormy sky. It sold for £524.80, including fees, a fair price for an anonymous late 18th century canvas, but hardly a piece to set pulses racing. What nobody realised at the time was that beneath the surface lay one of the earliest oil paintings ever produced by J.M.W. Turner.
The transformation began when cleaning revealed a faint signature in the lower left, reading “W. Turner.” Further research connected the view, across the River Avon towards Hotwells in Bristol, to drawings and a watercolour now in Tate’s collection. Scholars concluded that this was The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol, painted in 1792 when Turner was about 17. It was shown at the Royal Academy the following year, meaning it predated Fishermen at Sea(1796), long thought to be his first exhibited oil.
The painting’s journey since then has been unusually well documented. Commissioned by the Reverend Robert Nixon, an early supporter of Turner, it later travelled with Nixon’s son to Tasmania, where it was last shown publicly in 1858. Over time, literature mistakenly described it as a watercolour and even misidentified the subject entirely. This confusion, together with its condition, likely contributed to its modest price at Dreweatts and explains how such an important work could slip quietly through the market.
When Sotheby’s included the painting in its London Old Masters sale on 2 July 2025, expectations were more realistic. Estimated at £200,000–£300,000, it attracted strong interest from dealers, collectors and institutions. Bristol Museum & Art Gallery made a late attempt to raise funds to keep the work in the city, but competitive bidding quickly pushed the price beyond their reach. The hammer finally came down at £1.9 million, including fees, to a UK private collector, over 3,600 times the Dreweatts price.
The dramatic increase in value owed much to the reattribution, but also to the painting’s art historical importance. Early Turner oils are scarce, and those with clear provenance and exhibition history are rarer still. The link to Bristol, the detailed documentary trail and the rediscovery narrative added layers of appeal. Museums’ interest only heightened competition, while coverage in the art press drew wider attention to the sale.
Stories like this remain a reminder that connoisseurship still matters. A buyer willing to look closely, question an attribution and invest in conservation can transform an overlooked picture into a market highlight. In this case, a chance purchase in a regional auction house not only uncovered a long lost Turner but also rewrote a small part of art history, turning £524.80 into nearly £2 million in the process.
References:
- The Art Newspaper – “Turner painting bought last year for £500 sells for almost £2m at Sotheby's”- Sotheby’s – Lot page: “The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent's Rock, Bristol”
- Sotheby’s – Sale overview: “Old Master and 19th Century Paintings Evening Auction (L25033)”
- Sotheby’s – Press release: “Rediscovered Turner – The First Oil Painting He Ever Exhibited – Heads to Sotheby’s”
- Dreweatts – Past auction (sale page; includes Lot 23)