Turner Masterpiece Sells for £1.9 Million Surprise
Published on 7.11.25
A lucky antiques collector who purchased an unsigned oil painting for £400 is celebrating after it sold for £1.9m, revealing it to be a lost work by JMW Turner. The 23ins by 2ft 5ins painting, titled 'The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent's Rock, Bristol', was attributed to an artist follower of Julius Caesar Ibbetson and had been hidden for 150 years. After professional cleaning, the signature of Turner was exposed, confirming it as a work produced by the master in 1792 at just 17 years old. The painting sold at Sotheby's auction house with four serious bidders driving up the price to £1.5m, nearly eight times the estimated value.