art-and-culture10 days ago
Turner's 'Rome, from Mount Aventine' Returns to Italy for Pre-Auction Display
JMW Turner's 1836 painting 'Rome, from Mount Aventine' is on public display in Rome from September 29 to October 1 before heading to a London auction on December 9, where it is estimated to fetch £50 million. The work, which depicts the Tiber River and the city from the Aventine Hill, is remarkably well-preserved, retaining original canvas, frame, and visible traces of Turner's fingerprints and brushwork. It was commissioned in the late 1820s by Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro and has changed hands only twice since its creation, most recently in 2014 for £30.3 million. Sotheby's describes it as one of the few major Turner works remaining in private ownership, with Mario Tavella expressing hope that it will be acquired by a public museum.