It eventually sold for nearly eight times the expected price at auction
Bristol Museum and Art Gallery has failed in its attempt to bring JMW Turner’s masterpiece home(Image: Bristol City Council)
Bristol Museum & Art Gallery has failed in its bid to buy a painting by legendary artist JMW Turner, which was inspired by a visit to the city. The gallery’s defeat at auction has prompted calls for a mystery private buyer, who spent almost £2m to secure the painting known as The Rising Squall, to loan it to the gallery for public display.
The council-run gallery raised more than £109,000 from over 1,700 public donations through a campaign known as Bring Turner Home, which allowed it to submit a “substantial” bid during an auction at Sotheby’s on July 2. The bid submitted by the gallery was significantly larger than the amount raised from the public, Bristol Live understands.
However, a private collector won the race to secure the painting, Turner’s first using oil, which features a view of the Hot Wells spring and spa from the eastern bank of the River Avon. The unidentified winning bidder paid £1.87m, nearly eight times the original estimate price, for the painting which was rediscovered in 2024 after being lost for over 150 years.
The money raised through the gallery’s crowdfunding campaign will now be returned to those who donated. The museum’s curator of art Julia Carver said she was disappointed to miss out on the painting, but encouraged by the “amazing” crowdfunding campaign.
“It’s a disappointment that we were beaten at the auction, but we’re not despondent,” she said.
“There’s been amazing positive energy during this campaign and we’ve had wonderful support from the city and beyond.
Bristol City Council head of culture Philip Walker previously said the chance to buy the painting was a “once-in-a generation opportunity”. Despite leading some of the crowdfunding efforts, the council said it would not spend its own money on the bid.
Ms Carver said that while it was early days she hoped the still to be identified private buyer would loan the painting to be put on display in the city.
“It’s very soon to say, the new owner, we don’t know who that is yet and it’s really up to them.”
“If they were open to it, we’d be delighted of course. The painting was Turner’s first experiment in oil and it was inspired by Bristol after his visit here in 1792, which is why we were so keen to have it.”
“It’s an obvious gift to Bristol really.”
Bristol councillor Stephen Williams went a step further, saying he was disappointed and calling for the mystery buyer to have a “good look in the mirror”.
“Disappointing that Turner’s painting of Hotwells was not secured by Bristol Art Gallery, being outbid by a private collector,” Mr Williams wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Let’s hope whoever has bought it has a good look in the mirror and thinks it would be a grand gesture to lend it to us for a year before hiding it away.”
The museum confirmed plans to exhibit four rare Turner watercolour paintings later this year to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the artist’s birth.
“We do have some watercolours by Turner made during that same visit (to Bristol),” Ms Carver said.
“We’re looking at how we can display those … we would like to celebrate that (his birth) and to celebrate all the support we’ve had with this campaign and to show some of these lovely works that we have in the collection.”
The watercolours have not been displayed to the public for over a decade due to their fragile nature.
Bristol Museum and Art Gallery thanked members of the public for their efforts to bring The Rising Squall home.
“Thank you once again to everyone who donated, shared and championed this campaign,” the gallery said in a statement after the auction closed.
“We are proud to be at the heart of a city that believes in access to art and culture and that comes together to support it.”