A rediscovered oil painting by J.M.W. Turner, titled *The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol*, sold for £1.9 million ($2.6 million) at Sotheby’s Old Masters and 19th Century Paintings evening auction in London—more than six times its high estimate. The work, painted in 1792 when Turner was 17, had been misattributed and sold for just $506 at a Dreweatts auction the previous year. After cleaning revealed Turner’s signature, scholars confirmed its authenticity, and it was identified as Turner’s first publicly exhibited oil painting, exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1793. The winning bidder was a private collector in the U.K., outbidding Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, which had raised over £100,000 from donors in a failed attempt to acquire the work.
This discovery matters because it rewrites art history: the painting was long assumed to be a watercolor and had been lost for over 150 years. Its re-emergence corrects the record on Turner’s early career, showing that his first exhibited oil was not *Fisherman at Sea* (1796) but this earlier work. The sale also highlights the dramatic swings of the art market, where a misattributed painting can skyrocket in value once its true provenance is established. The event underscores the importance of conservation and scholarly analysis in uncovering hidden masterpieces, and it reignites public and institutional interest in Turner’s formative years.