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Catalogue No. 2060 · Sotheby's · London
Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino
About $69.4 million in today’s money: 790 years of the typical US household’s income. Source
- Artist
- J. M. W. Turner (British, 1775–1851)
- Title
- Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino
- Date
- 1839
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Size
- 90.2 × 122 cm (35½ × 48 in)
In 1839 J. M. W. Turner showed two large views of Rome at the Royal Academy in London. Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino, number 70 in the exhibition, was paired with a companion scene from ancient Rome. Sotheby's describes it as his last picture of the city, seen from the Capitoline Hill.
Hugh Munro of Novar acquired the painting from the artist at the exhibition. In 1878 it was sold at Christie's in London for 4,450 guineas, bought on behalf of Archibald, 5th Earl of Rosebery, and his wife Hannah, née Rothschild. It then passed by family descent for 132 years and, from 1978, hung on loan at the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh.
On 7 July 2010 Sotheby's in London offered it with an estimate of £12 million to £18 million. It sold for about £29.7 million, which the Associated Press converted to $44.9 million, to dealers acting for the J. Paul Getty Museum. Britain's Reviewing Committee judged the work of outstanding aesthetic importance and recommended that a decision on its export be deferred.
Sotheby's says the unlined canvas was kept behind glass and never re-varnished, so its surface has changed little since Turner finished it.
The sale
- Auction house
- Sotheby's, London
- Date
- 7 July 2010
- Lot
- 57
- Estimate
- £12,000,000–£18,000,000
- Sold for
- $44.9 million (including buyer’s premium) · £29,721,250
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Provenance
1839
Hugh A. J. Munro of Novar (c. 1797–1864), acquired from the artist at the Royal Academy exhibition in 1839
1839–1878
By family descent until sold at Christie's, London, 6 April 1878, lot 99 ("The Novar Collection")
6 April 1878
Bought by Davis on behalf of Archibald, 5th Earl of Rosebery, and Hannah née Rothschild, for 4,450 gns
1878–1929
Archibald, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847–1929), Prime Minister (1894–5)
1929–2010
By family descent; on loan to the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh, since 1978
7 July 2010
Sold at Sotheby's, London, lot 57; the Associated Press says the buyers were dealers acting for the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles Reported
See it on a wall
Sources
- Sotheby's, Old Master & British Paintings Evening Sale 2010, lot 57: Joseph Mallord William Turner, Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino
- GOV.UK: J.M.W. Turner's final masterpiece of the eternal city, Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino, under threat of permanent export
- Associated Press via Fox News: Turner masterpiece purchased by US museum for nearly $45 million
Prices include the buyer’s premium, in US dollars at the time of sale, unless marked as a hammer price.