J. M. W. Turner's "Modern Rome-Campo Vaccino" sold for $44.9M at Sotheby's in London to Getty Museum. Photo: Sotheby's

By Mackie Healy, Art Market Views contributor

Los Angeles’ J. Paul Getty Museum has purchased J.M.W. Turner’s four-foot wide view of Rome for $44.9 million, a record for the artist at auction. The price was more than double the low estimate.

Turner’s 1839 painting, Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino, sold for £29.7 ($44.9 million) today at Sotheby’s in London. The estimate was  £12 – 18 million ($18.2 – $27.4 million).  London dealer Hazlitt Gooden & Fox bid on behalf of the Getty.

Sotheby’s evening old master and British painting sale totaled $80.9 million.

Only four other Turner oil paintings of comparable stature remain in private hands, according to Sotheby’s. The work is in its original plaster gilt and glazed frame and is the culmination of Turner’s focus on Rome. Modern Rome originally belonged to Turner’s  friend and patron, Hugh Monro of Novar. The work was acquired in 1878 by the 5th Earl of Rosebery and his wife, Hannah Rothschild on their honeymoon and has remained in the same family ever since.

The piece depicts the Italian landscape from the Capitoline Hill. Turner portrays the Coliseum, baroque Rome’s sprawling countryside and crowds of citizens.

The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1839 as a companion piece to Ancient Rome: Agrippina Landing with the Ashes of Germanicus. Turner was well known for showing pieces in pairs, to show the change over time.

The sale’s other top lots include Pieter Brueghel the Younger’s The Kermesse of Saint George with the Dance Around the Maypole, which sold for £2.5 million, just below the high estimate. Isack van Ostade’s A Frozen River Landscape with a Waggoner Halted at an Inn and a Horse Pulling a Laden Sleigh off the ice in the Foreground, which more than doubled presale high estimates and sold for £1.8 million.

TOP TEN MOST EXPENSIVE LOTS:

Joseph Mallord William Turner R.A., Modern Rome-Campo Vaccino, oil on canvas
Sold for $44.9 million (Auction record for the artist)
Buyer: Hazlitt Gooden & Fox on behalf of the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California

Pieter Brueghel the Younger, The Kermesse of Saint George with the dance around the maypole, oil
on single plank oak panel
Sold for $3.8 million
Buyer: Anonymous

Jan Lievens, A Tronie: Study of the head and shoulders of an old bearded man, wearing a cap, oil on
oak panel
Sold for $3.8 million  (Auction record for the artist)
Buyer: Private Collector

Isack van Ostade, A frozen river landscape, with a waggoner halted at an inn and a horse pulling a
laden sleigh off the ice in the foreground, oil on oak panel
Sold for $2.8 million
Buyer: London Dealer

Pieter Brueghel the Younger, The outdoor wedding feast, oil on oak panel
Sold for $2.4 million
Buyer: European Dealer

Jan Breughel the Elder, A village landscape with horses, carts and figures before cottages, oil on
copper
Sold for $2.4 million
Buyer: Private Collector

Hendrick Terbrugghen, A luteplayer carousing with a young woman holding a roemer, oil on canvas
Sold for $1.9 million
Buyer: Private Collector

Bernard van Orley, The Virgin and Child adored by Saint Martin and other saints, oil on oak panel
Sold for $1.5 million (Auction record for the artist)
Buyer: Private Collector

Barnaba da Modena, The Madonna and Child Enthroned with two angels, tempera on panel
Sold for $1.3 million  (Auction record for the artist)
Buyer: Private Collector

Joseph Mallord William Turner R.A., Venice from Fusina, watercolour with brushpoint over traces of
pencil
Sold for $1.2 million
Buyer: London dealer

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