The crowdfunding campaign succeeded in just one week, securing funds to bid for artist’s earliest oil painting
Bristol Museums Development Trust has successfully raised £100,000 in a week-long public fundraising campaign to help secure a lost masterpiece by JMW Turner and bring it back to the city where it was created more than 230 years ago.
The’ Bring Turner Home’ campaign hopes to raise enough to acquire ‘The Rising Squall, Hot Wells from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol’, painted 1792 by the artist .
It met its target today, Friday June 27, 2025, with four days to spare. The campaign’s largest donor anonymously contributed £15,000.
Although the £100k target has been reached, the crowdfunder will remain open until Tuesday 1 July.
The campaign’s success means the trust can now bid on the painting. It will attempt to acquire the painting in an auction at Sotherby’s, which values it at between £200,000 – 300,000.
It is the earliest-known oil painting ever exhibited by one of Britain’s greatest artists.
Painted when Turner was just 17 years old during his time in Bristol, it is the artist’s first exhibited oil painting, shown at the Royal Academy in 1793, and believed to be the only oil painting he ever created of a Bristol scene.
The painting, which was recently rediscovered after more than 150 years, is scheduled to go to auction at Sotheby’s on July 2. Bristol Museum & Art Gallery is believed to be the only public institution bidding for the work, making this crowdfunding effort crucial to keeping the masterpiece in public hands.
The museum launched this unprecedented public campaign rather than using council funds, emphasizing the community-driven nature of the effort. If the auction bid is successful, the painting will join the permanent collection at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, where it will be freely accessible to the public and serve as a focal point for education, storytelling, and civic pride.
The Rising Squall depicts the Hot Wells area from St Vincent’s Rock, capturing a moment of dramatic weather over the Bristol landscape that the young Turner would have witnessed firsthand. The work represents not only artistic history but also a tangible connection to Bristol’s past, painted by an artist who would go on to become one of the most celebrated painters in British history.
With the fundraising target now met, all eyes turn to next week’s auction, where Bristol will discover whether this remarkable community effort will succeed in bringing Turner’s earliest masterpiece home to the city that inspired it.
