Lost Turner masterpiece could be bought by council

The earliest-known oil painting by JMW Turner - which had been lost for 150 years - could be bought by a council.

On Monday, Bristol City Council agreed it would try to buy the work depicting the Avon Gorge - though it said no council budget would be spent on it.

Instead, efforts will be made over the next two weeks to fundraise the £300,000 guide price for The Rising Squall through a public campaign.

While it is not yet clear where exactly the money will come from, councillors unanimously approved efforts to purchase the artwork.

The painting, thought to have been created by the "father of modern art" when he was aged just 17 in 1792, is listed for auction at Sotheby's on 2 July.

It had lain in obscurity for more than a century before being rediscovered during cleaning in 2024, and shows the east bank of the River Avon before the building of the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

If successful at auction, the council plans to hang the painting in the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery at the top of Park Street.

Bristol City Council's head of culture and creative industries Philip Walker told Monday's strategy and resources policy committee meeting "it would be hard to imagine another artist or another painting that is any more relevant to the city's stories".

The upcoming auction, he said, was a "once in a generation opportunity to purchase a significant work of art by such a significant great master artist", adding that while the plan was for the council to actually make the transaction - should it bid successfully - the cost would be covered through fundraising.

Councillor John Goulandris described the bid as a "once in a lifetime opportunity", but pointed out there was only a "narrow window" to raise funds at a time when the council's finances were "extraordinarily tight".

In response to Mr Goulandris' requests for assurance that costs would not fall to the local authority, Mr Walker said the "intention" was to raise enough money to pay for the painting.

"We won't necessarily have taken all the money in but we will have cast-iron contracts or commitments through public campaigns or trusts and foundations we may approach," he said.

Councillor Ellie King also asked Mr Walker about the ongoing costs of maintaining such a prestigious artwork, to which the senior officer said conservation "would become business as usual".

With a "reassuring" report on the state of the painting already released by its sellers, Mr Walker added, it was not expected that the work of art would need any exceptional treatment and would not significantly increase insurance policy costs.

In response to a question from council leader Tony Dyer about public access to the painting, should a successful bid be made at auction, Mr Walker said the "intention would be to put it on display as soon as possible without charging for that, particularly if we have just mounted a public fundraising campaign".

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