Turner’s “Rome, from Mount Aventine” Returns to Italy Ahead of Record Auction

In late September 2026 the 1836 landscape “Rome, from Mount Aventine” by J.M.W. Turner opened at the Palazzo Rondinini in Rome. The three-day showing is part of a pre-auction itinerary that will move the work to Sotheby’s galleries in Hong Kong and New York before returning to London, where it is scheduled to be auctioned on December 9.

Turner's masterpiece of Rome returns to city ahead of UK sale that could set a record Turner painting estimated to make £50m auction record goes on view in Rome The Guardian

The painting was commissioned by patron Hugh Andrew Johnstone Munro of Novar, who accompanied Turner on sketching trips to Rome in the late 1820s. After Turner began the canvas in Rome and completed it in London, it entered Munro’s estate. In 1878 it was purchased by Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery as a wedding gift for his wife Hannah de Rothschild. The work resurfaced at Sotheby’s in 2014 when a private collector paid £30.3 million, then a record for the artist.

Turner's masterpiece of Rome returns to city ahead of UK sale that could set a record

• Estimated sale price: around £50 million (? $57 million).

Turner painting estimated to make £50m auction record goes on view in Rome

• Previous auction result: £30.3 million in 2014.

Turner painting estimated to make £50m auction record goes on view in Rome

• Provenance: only two private-ownership transfers since its creation.

Turner painting estimated to make £50m auction record goes on view in Rome

• Condition: original frame, never relined or restored, retaining visible fingerprints, palette-knife marks and brush hairs.

Turner painting estimated to make £50m auction record goes on view in Rome

Mario Tavella, chair of Sotheby’s Europe, said the house hopes a public museum might acquire the painting so it can be “admired by everyone.” Julian Gascoigne, senior specialist in British paintings at Sotheby’s, emphasized the painting’s rarity and condition as a “huge opportunity for collectors.” The auction house also noted strong interest from Asian clients, prompting the Hong Kong stop.

Turner painting estimated to make £50m auction record goes on view in Rome

• “Because it’s unlined, the surface of the picture is extraordinarily well preserved,” — Julian Gascoigne.

The Guardian

• “Every other painting he did of Rome was an evocation of a bygone age. But this is the only portrait of the city. In many ways, it’s his great love letter to the city that inspired him throughout his life.” — Mario Tavella.

The Guardian

If the December 9 auction meets the £50 million estimate, the sale would set a new auction record for Turner, surpassing the 2014 benchmark. The unaltered surface offers scholars a rare glimpse of Turner’s technique—oil applied “as if it were watercolor,” built up in translucent layers with occasional finger work. Its public display in Rome also highlights the city’s historic role as a magnet for 19th-century artists.

Turner's masterpiece of Rome returns to city ahead of UK sale that could set a record

After the Rome preview, the canvas will travel to Sotheby’s venues in Hong Kong and New York, then return to London for a final display at the New Bond Street gallery ahead of the December 9 auction. The outcome will determine whether the work joins a public collection or remains in private hands, and whether it establishes a new benchmark for Turner’s market value.

Turner painting estimated to make £50m auction record goes on view in Rome