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

3. 1888 George Redford's 'Art Sales'; placed the Two 1793 'St. Vincent's Rock' Titles in 'oils'

In 1888 George Redford 'Art Sales' was published. 'Art Sales' listed auction details in two sections; the first section was oils; the second section was watercolours. (There were further subdivisions into 'British Artists', etc. which do not concern us here.) Redford placed both of the 1864 sales in oils.

He listed 'View on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's rock, Bristol' as:

• 'St. Vincent's Rock, Avon, Bristol' Exh 1793 Redford, page 120 (1864) (bought in).
  :
  He named the seller of 'View on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's rock, Bristol' as 'Huskinson'. (Following much research we determined that this was the artist Leonard Huskinson (known as Huskisson).
  Redford's description could have applied to either of the two St. Vincents Rock paintings. However, Christie's auction catalogue entry was explicit and exactly the same as the 1793 RA Catalogue:
  • Christie's 27 April 1864
    JMW TURNER RA;
    Lot 90 View on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's Rock, Bristol. Exhibited 1793
  • 1793 RA Catalogue
    View on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's rock, Bristol.

Redford listed 'The rising squall, hot wells, from St. Vincent's rock, Bristol' as:

• 'Hot Wells, Bristol' Redford, page 120 (1864), seller: 'Hogarth'; buyer was left blank.

It is not clear why Redford listed lot 90, 'View on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's Rock, Bristol' with oils but one possible explanation is that he was simply making a combined record of sales from auction catalogues and saw lot 90 in a property which clearly contained oils, lot 91, JMW Turner, 'Battle of the Nile'; lot 92, Sir E Landseer, 'Repose'; lot 97, George Romney, 'The Lady Hamilton' etc.

Thus in 1888 there emerged uncertainty bordering on confusion - Redford listed both titles as oils.

• 'View on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's rock, Bristol' previously regarded as a watercolour-drawing appeared as an oil in Redford's list.
• 'The rising squall, hot wells, from St. Vincent's rock, Bristol' was listed by Redford as an oil but under a newly made-up title ('Hot Wells, Bristol') probably from the catalogue.("The Hotwells, Bristol: storm coming on - fishermen securing their boats")

It is of note here that comparing just Redford with the 1793 exhibition catalogue and considering only 'View on the river Avon, near St. Vincent's rock, Bristol', on the face of it Redford is right - this title is shown in the Anti-Room therefore (he would conclude that) it is an oil!