Bristol city council in the south west of England has launched a one-week public fundraising campaign in the hopes of purchasing a newly attributed JMW Turner painting consigned to auction at Sotheby’s, London. The Bring Turner Home campaign is seeking to raise £100,000, which would see the work go on show at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery this summer.
The work, entitled The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol, goes under the hammer at Sotheby’s on 2 July with an estimate of up to £300,000. Alongside the £100,000 sought from the public, the council hopes to raise the rest of the money from other sources before the auction, according to the BBC.
The Turner painting was sold early last year at Dreweatts Donnington Priory, a regional UK auctioneer, for £524.80 including VAT. At the time it was attributed to a follower of the UK 18th-century artist Julius Caesar Ibbetson and entitled House by the Water in a Stormy Sky.
The painting—made in 1792 when Turner was 17—depicts a Bristol spa resort known as Hot Wells House; it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in London shortly after the artist’s 18th birthday in 1793. The piece, which was first acquired by the Reverend Robert Nixon, was last exhibited in 1858 in Tasmania, Australia.
Phillip Walker, the head of culture for Bristol City Council, told the BBC: “It's an incredibly important and relevant painting for Bristol because it's the very first and probably only oil painting that Turner ever painted of a Bristol scene.”
A council committee report published 16 June says that “the painting will draw more and new visitors to Bristol Museum & Art Gallery…the council will receive donations and funds from external sources so that the council does not use its own funds for the purpose of the purchase.
“The funds raised from external sources will only be used if the bid at auction is successful. If the museum is out-bid, then all committed funds—whether public, private or from trusts and foundations will be returned following the auction—the exception being if an export ban is placed on the item by the Secretary of State [for Culture, Media and Sport] as a result of the sale.”
The work will be included in the forthcoming exhibition Turner and Constable at Tate Britain (27 November-12 April 2026).
