The painting by the famous Romantic artist will go on auction next month
16:17, 13 Jun 2025Updated 16:18, 13 Jun 2025
The Rising Squall(Image: Bristol City Council)
Bristol City Council will attempt to raise around £300,000 to buy an 18th-century oil painting of Hotwells.
The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, was painted by JMW Turner in 1792 and will be sold in an auction on July 2.
If successful, the council will hang the painting in the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery at the top of Park Street.
No money from the council’s budget will be used to bid for the painting, so there will be no effect on spending cash on fixing potholes or running libraries, for example.
The sale will take place at Sotheby’s, a famous and historic auction house in London.
Plans for the fundraising will likely be approved by councillors on the strategy and resources policy committee on Monday, June 16. Details of the plans were set out in a committee report.
The report said: “The painting was inspired by Turner’s trip to Bristol in 1791-2 where he stayed with the Narroway family. This painting is in oil and as such would become a key painting in the art galleries, on display for much of the time, subject to conservation requirements being met.
“The city has always harboured aspirations to own works by artists that are considered the great masters. The addition of an important and locally relevant Turner oil painting would be a significant addition to the city’s collections.
“This opportunity is unusual in that paintings of such provenance and relevance are extremely rare to become available and at an estimated auction price that warrants serious consideration.
“If approved, a public fundraising campaign will commence as soon as practicable.”
JMW Turner was described as one of the UK’s “best-loved and most influential” artists. The Rising Squall was painted when Turner was 17 years old, and shows a couple of boats and houses, viewed from the banks of the River Avon. The guide price for the painting is £300,000.
The decision to bid for the oil painting is bound to raise questions about the council’s priorities in the middle of a cost of living crisis. The council, along with many other English councils, faces effective bankruptcy next spring due to the ballooning costs of special needs education.
While no council money will be spent on bidding for the painting, it’s unclear who will contribute funds. If the council is outbid, then all committed funds will be returned after the auction. Council bosses hope buying the painting will attract more visitors to the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery.
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