This blurry photo unveils a hidden masterpiece worth half a million dollars
‘The Approach to Venice’ or ‘Venice From the Lagoon’ painting by the English artist Turner showed up at Christie’s.
Christie’s art expert Rosie Jarvie was shocked to find that a blurry photograph she received was in fact a painting by iconic English romantic Joseph Mallord William Turner. “The image was poor and the painting was behind old glass, which had a greenish tint. Despite how it looked to the naked eye, there was an instinct, from the strong brushstrokes and economy of line and palette, that we really needed to see this work properly,” Jarvie told Art Newspaper.
After careful analysis, it turned out to be a watercolor by the artist J.M.W. Turner, born in 1775 with the Londoner one of the most important romantic painters of the time. His works include landscapes with special attention to the treatment of light and color, which according to some experts was the basis of 19th century Impressionism.
A painting by the precursor of 19th century Impressionism
Christie’s will auction off this watercolour titled The Approach to Venice or Venice From the Lagoon on February 4 in New York. The painting, dated around 1840, is expected to fetch between $300,000 and $500,000 (€291,000 and €486,000).
The current owner of this painting is a descendant of Haddon C. Adams, an engineer and 20th-century art enthusiast. Adams donated some of his works to the National Art Collection in the United Kingdom, although some remained in the hands of his art dealer, Thomas Griffith, as is the case of the aforementioned work. Adams had acquired this work, correctly classifying it as Turner’s work, although it was later attributed to John Ruskin, since the original owner was a faithful admirer of the latter.
However, the new attribution makes the work much more valuable, since a Turner painting is worth approximately ten times more than a Ruskin one with Turner watercolor selling for more than a million dollars back in 2023.
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