Joseph Mallord William Turner R.A. (1775-1851)
Rome, from Mount Aventine, 1835 (est. £15-20 million)
Oil on its original canvas and in its original frame
36 by 49 in.; 91.6 by 124.6 cm
Joseph Mallord William Turner R.A. (1775-1851)
Modern Rome, Campo Vaccino, 1838-39
Sold for £29,721,250 / $44,935,558 / €35,727,792
Sotheby’s London, July 2010
Sotheby’s to sell Turner’s ‘Rome, from Mount Aventine’ ‘Rome, from Mount Aventine’ -one of the last great Turner masterpieces remaining in private hands- will be the highlight of Sotheby’s London Evening sale of Old Master on 3rd December 2014.]]>
October 22, 2014, source: Sotheby’s
Painted in 1835 by Britain’s most celebrated artist, ‘Rome, from Mount Aventine’ is among Turner’s most subtle and atmospheric depictions of the Italian city, a subject that captivated Turner for over twenty years. The large-scale oil painting is further distinguished by its exceptional state of preservation, as well as a prestigious and unbroken provenance, having changed hands for the only time in 1878, when it was acquired by the 5th Earl of Rosebery, later Prime Minister of Great Britain. The picture has remained in the Rosebery collection ever since and will be offered for sale with an estimate of £15-20 million.
‘Rome, from Mount Aventine’ is a brilliant technical feat demonstrating the artist’s virtuosity as a landscape painter. It is possibly Turner’s most serene and beguiling vision of Rome – an enduring, timeless image, in which every detail of the city is painstakingly and accurately portrayed. With infinite subtlety he captures the first rays of morning light as they dispel the rising mist from the Tiber and bath the eternal city in a soft golden glow. The work depicts the city as seen from the Aventine Hill, looking north across the ancient city to the Field of Mars and the distant Vatican. The topography is dominated by the luminous River Tiber, which meanders its way through the ruins of antiquity, the glories of the High Renaissance and the wonders of the modern metropolis.
The painting was hung upon the walls of Hugh Munro of Novar’s London house until the sale of his estate in 1878. Here it caught the eye of Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847-1929), who had just married Hannah de Rothschild, the greatest heiress of her day. He paid £6,142 for the picture, a price which exceeded all previous records for a work by Turner at the time. The painting is one of two great works by Turner purchased by the Earl of Rosebery from the Munro of Novar sale, the other being ‘Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino’ (first exhibited in 1839) for which he paid the lesser sum of £4,240. The latter picture was acquired by the J. Paul Getty Museum at Sotheby’s London in July 2010 for £29.7 million, an auction record for the British Master. Passed down to the descendants of the Earl of Rosebery, first hanging in their London house in Berkeley Square and then at Mentmore, ‘Rome, from Mount Aventine’ has been on loan to the nation for the last thirty six years.
Related content
Getty Museum acquires Turner’s ‘Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino’ for £29.7 million (news, July 2010)
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