This rare 1836 painting could fetch $66M at auction
This rare 1836 painting by J.M.W. Turner, Rome, from Mount Aventine, is headed to Sotheby's London on December 9 with an estimate of £50 million ($66.2 million). One of the few Turners still in private hands, it will first go on view in Rome before the Old Master Evening Sale.
Key Takeaways
- Rome, from Mount Aventine (1836) carries a £50 million ($66.2 million) estimate at Sotheby's London.
- The Old Master Evening Sale is set for December 9, with a pre-sale showing in Rome through October 1.
- Commissioned by collector Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar, the view shows Rome bathed in golden light.
- It last sold in 2014 for £30.3 million after more than 130 years with the Rosebery family.
- In 191 years, the work has not been relined or restored and remains on its original canvas and frame.
Why does this rare 1836 painting matter to collectors?
According to Robb Report, the English master's Rome landscape is believed to have been conceived and mapped out in Italy, then completed in London. Sotheby's calls it one of the few Turners still held privately, which helps explain the headline estimate.
Julian Gascoigne, senior specialist of British paintings at Sotheby's London, said few paintings capture Turner's genius as vividly. He described the work as extraordinary in ambition, beauty, and innovation, and as a piece that has come to define not only Turner's achievement but the course of modern painting.
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Where can the public see the painting before December?
Before the London sale, Rome, from Mount Aventine will be exhibited at Palazzo Rondinini, an 18th-century Baroque palace in Rome, through October 1. The December 9 auction falls within Sotheby's Old Master Evening Sale in London.
That Rome stop gives collectors and travelers a rare chance to view this rare 1836 painting in the city it depicts, then follow it to the block weeks later.
What is the ownership history behind the $66 million estimate?
Turner was commissioned by British art collector Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar, a close friend of the artist. Some four decades later, in 1876, Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery and a future British prime minister, acquired the painting for £6,142—about £636,165 today—as a wedding gift celebrating his marriage to Hannah de Rothschild, then the wealthiest woman in Britain.
The Rosebery family held the canvas for more than 130 years before consigning it in 2014, when it sold for £30.3 million. In the painting's 191-year history, it has not been relined or restored and remains on its original canvas and frame.
How does the December sale fit the luxury collecting calendar?
With a £50 million ($66.2 million) guide and a single prior auction outing, this rare 1836 painting sits at the top end of the Old Master market. Collectors watching December's London sales will be measuring whether Turner's private-market scarcity can push the final price toward—or past—that lofty estimate.