10 hours ago
Fundraiser to buy Turner's lost Bristol masterpiece hits 60k
A fundraiser launched to buy a recently discovered JMW Turner painting, which remained unidentified for 150 years, has reached £60, Rising Squall features a former hot spring and spa in Bristol, as seen from the east bank of the River Avon before Clifton Suspension Bridge was painting goes under the hammer at Sotheby's auction house on 2 July, and is estimated to fetch between £200,000 - £300,000. Bristol City Council, which owns Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, is trying to raise £100,000 from the public to help purchase the long-lost masterpiece and bring it home.
The gallery is believed to be the only public institution bidding, and the council hope to raise the rest of the money from other sources.
Painted in 1792, when Turner was 17, it is the earliest-known oil painting ever exhibited by the artist, and is believed to be the only one depicting a Bristol artist's signature was only discovered last year when the canvas was cleaned during a restoration community fundraiser currently stands at more than £60, successful, the painting will join the Turner collection at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, where it will be freely accessible to the unsuccessful at auction, all donations made via Crowdfunder will be refunded.
The painting was debuted at the Royal Academy in 1793, three days after Turner's 18th birthday, before being bought by Reverend Robert Nixon, a customer of Turner's father's barber Mr Nixon's son inherited the painting after his death it fell "into obscurity", having last been exhibited in Tasmania, was early mention of the painting in obituaries of Turner's life but for at least a century it was mistaken for a watercolour, meaning it was missing from the catalogue of his exhibited oil paintings.
