Recently Attributed J.M.W. Turner Watercolour Heads to Auction
By Elizabeth Gillett
J.M.W. Turner, Bishop Vaughans Chapel, St David’s (c. 1795). Image courtesy of Cheffins.
On Wednesday March 20, J.M.W. Turner’s Bishop Vaughans Chapel, St David's (c. 1795), will go up for auction at Cheffins in Cambridge. The watercolour work will be auctioned at the annual The Fine Sale alongside Ming porcelain, seventeenth century Italian furniture, and the works of Turner’s romantic contemporaries, including English landscape artists John Crome and Thomas Churchyard.
John Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), was a London born printmaker and painter, recognised for elevating the level of landscape painting to that of the prestigious genre of history painting. Encouraged by his father after showing artistic talent from an early age, Turner entered the Royal Academy Schools at age 14. He quickly progressed, first exhibiting his watercolour works in 1790 and later his first oil painting in 1796. Although Turner’s most famed works (including The Slave Ship, c. 1840, and Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway, c. 1844) utilised oil paint, Turner continued to experiment with watercolour throughout his career—primarily due to its quick drying nature making it convenient for his landscape and architectural studies created during his frequent journeys around the UK.
Turner’s Bishop Vaughans Chapel, St David's, was originally acquired in 1990 for 100 GBP (235 GBP today) and was only recently attributed to the renowned romantic painter by one of the UK’s leading Turner scholars, Andrew Wilton. The family consigning the work, who wished to remain anonymous, did not think anything of the painting’s signature which reads ‘W. Turner’ until a visit to St. Davids, Wales in 2022 reignited their interest in the work.
J.M.W. Turner, Hampton Court, Herefordshire, c. 1796. Image courtesy of BBC.
This work by Turner, is part of an increasing collection of Turner’s early watercolours to hit the auction block. Another early watercolour, painted by Turner at just 21, depicting the English estate Hampton Court, hammered for an astounding 96,000 GBP earlier this month.
This growing collection of recently attributed watercolours can be primarily accredited to an increase in knowledge regarding Turner’s distinctive style. According to Cheffins associate Patricia Cross, “in the early 1990s, it was not common knowledge that early in his career, Turner simply signed his works ‘W Turner’”. However, now “collectors are becoming more familiar with Turner’s early style thanks to the increasing accessibility of his sketches, drawings, and watercolours”, spurring an increase in ‘discoveries’ of works that may be attributed to the famed English landscapist.
As one of the featured lots in the sale, Bishop Vaughans Chapel, St David’s is expected to fetch between 20,000 and 30,000 GBP. However, as Turner’s work depicting Hampton Court went for over double its estimate (30,000 to 50,000 GBP) earlier this month, it’s not unlikely Bishop Vaughans Chapel, St David’s will fetch well above its estimated hammer.
Bibliography
Benzine, Vittoria. ‘A $300 Watercolor Turns Out to be a JMW Turner That Could be Worth $38,000’. Accessed March 19, 2024, https://news.artnet.com/market/jmw-turner-watercolor-auction-2452792.
Gall, Caroline and Felicity Kvesic. ‘JMW Turner Watercolour Found Stuck Between Paintings at Kinsham Court’. Accessed March 19, 2024, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-68130848.
RA Collection: People and Organisations. ‘J.M.W. Turner RA (1775-1851)’. Accessed March 19, 2024, https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/j-m-w-turner-ra.
Sandiford, Josh. ‘Lost Turner Watercolour Fetches £96k at Auction’. Accessed March 19, 2024, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2y67v980qo.