Newly discovered painting by JMW Turner to go under the hammer at Cheffins

A newly discovered early watercolour by JMW Turner is expected to fetch at least £20,000-£30,000 when it goes on sale at Cheffins Auctioneers in Cambridge on 20^th March.

Depicting the Entrance to Bishop Vaughan’s Chapel in St David’s, Wales, the painting is signed ‘W Turner’ and can be dated to the artist’s 1795 tour of Wales. It has been held in a private Suffolk collection for the past 30 years. The watercolour was purchased in a group lot of paintings at a regional auction house in Suffolk for approx. £100 in the early 1990s, having been previously unidentified. It has a presale estimate of £20,000 - £30,000.  

A newly discovered early watercolour by JMW Turner which will go under the hammer at Cheffins

The painting’s owner (who does not want to be identified), comments: “The painting was hanging in our dining room for over 30 years - we periodically discussed that the picture could be by Turner but did not take it any further.

"After a trip to Wales in the autumn of 2022 visiting St. David’s Cathedral, our interest in our picture was rekindled.  At this point, we turned to the TATE Clore Gallery website and discovered the Turner sketch relating to our watercolour. As we were aware of the recent sale of a Turner at Cheffins, we decided to contact them.”

The painting is the only finished architectural study by Turner of this subject, depicting the entrance to the 16^th century chapel which is part of the 12^th century St David’s Cathedral. Built by Bishop Edward Vaughan in 1509, when he was bishop of St David’s, the chapel has a fan-vaulted ceiling bearing his crest and that of King Henry VII. The painting was completed by Turner when he was only twenty years old and measures 32.5 x 24.5cm.

Patricia Cross, Associate at Cheffins, says: “This piece is a significant new discovery which provides a glimpse into Turner’s early development as an artist. It is a marvellous example of his architectural drawing in which he demonstrates his extraordinary attention to detail and his imaginative understanding of light and dark. It draws upon one of Turner’s first tours of Wales as a professional artist and would have been completed as a presentation piece for one of his patrons, back at his London studio. The discovery of this new addition to Turner’s early works alongside the resurfacing of the previously untraced watercolour of Chepstow dating to a similar period, which we sold last year for £93,000, shows that Turner’s early watercolours are increasingly coming to the fore. It is the true definition of an auction house ‘sleeper’, and we are privileged to be able to offer it to the market.”

The painting has been verified by Andrew Wilton, leading scholar on Turner and the first Curator of the Clore Gallery for the Turner Collection at the Tate Britain.

This, and the preparatory study in the Tate, are the only known depictions of Bishop Vaughan’s Chapel by Turner. 

Cheffins sold a painting of Chepstow Castle overlooking the River Wye to the Chepstow Museum in March 2023 for £93,000, almost double its presale estimate.