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JMW Turner's Two 'St. Vincent's Rock' Exhibits of 1793
Chapter IV: Loss and Misidentification of 'The Rising Squall' and 'View on the River Avon: Identity of the Two 1793 'St. Vincent's Rock' Titles

Loss and Misidentification of 'The Rising Squall' and 'View on the River Avon
How mistakes obliterated the identity of 'The Rising Squall'

Identity of the Two 1793 'St. Vincent's Rock' Titles

1. Early Identifications of the Two 1793 'St. Vincent's Rock' Titles

The mistake by transposition of titles in the RA exhibition catalogue did not immediately cause a problem. It did not affect Cunningham's information (1852) or even the muddled Thornbury (1862).

In 1864 the two 1793 'St. Vincent's Rock' exhibits appeared at auction. Their appearance in the same year appears to be entirely coincidental.

At Christie's 27 April 1864 lot 90; View on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's Rock, Bristol. Exhibited 1793 (Turner's exact title from the RA Exhibition catalogue) with no indication as to whether it was oil or watercolour, and
At Christie's 9th July 1864; 'The Rising Squall' as 'The Hotwells, Bristol - Storm coming on' (catalogue lot 152, The Art Journal 1864, page 267 shows it as an oil)

In 1874 it was clear from Samuel Redgrave's 'A Dictionary of Artists' [page 416 lines 20&21] that 'The Rising Squall' was the oil exhibited in 1793 albeit that its title was was wrongly placed in the exhibition catalogue. As shown in Chapter II the transposed titles were:

'View on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's rock, Bristol' and
'The rising squall, hot wells, from St. Vincent's rock, Bristol'

...and in respect of 'View on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's rock, Bristol', in the catalogue wrongly shown in the Anti-Room, this transposed entry must have been for a watercolour-drawing; so whilst not being mentioned in Samuel Redgrave's 'A Dictionary of Artists' this work must have been known as a watercolour-drawing in 1874.

Therefore we can be confident that in the early 1870's