JMW Turner painting thought to be a fraud for over a century... is in fact a Turner

A JMW Turner painting thought to be a fraud for over a century has been re-attributed to the artist after new research revealed he bought back the picture himself and made alterations that left previous scholars perplexed.

The oil painting of Cilgerran Castle in Wales is a rare second version of another picture of the same view, which is currently housed in Cragside, in Northumberland.

For over 120 years scholars have debated the authenticity of this second painting ever since it was exhibited at the Guildhall in 1899, partly due to slight changes made to the sky in the picture.

Art historians were unable to work out why the painting, created when Turner was in his early 20’s, used materials and techniques reminiscent of Turner’s later style.

Now, thanks to a combination of years of historical research and cutting-edge modern technology “the final piece in the jigsaw” has been unearthed and the painting can at last be added to Turner’s canon.

This week, the painting sold for £1 million at an OldMasters evening auction at Sotheby’s.

Turner first visited Cilgerran Castle on his tour of South Wales in 1798 and the Romantic painter was taken in by the history of Wales, with its myths and ancient legends.

Painstaking years-long road to discovery 

Julian Gascoigne, Sotheby’s senior specialist of British paintings explained the painstaking three-year-long road to finally solving the century old mystery.

It began when Sotheby’s carried out a routine valuation for the former owner of the painting, a private client in the North of England.

The team decided that the landscape merited further research and that it should be viewed alongside the original to help confirm the authenticity.

Ian Warrell, an eminent Turner scholar, assessed the pictures together at Cragside, and concluded they were likely created “by the same hand”.

Mr Gascoigne said: “The final piece of the jigsaw puzzle…was that this picture was actually re-purchased in 1827 from Sir John Fleming Leicester, an incredibly important collector who had bought the picture years earlier, by Turner himself.”

Because Turner had used an agent to buy back the picture the name in the catalogue was different and it was only when Mr Warrell uncovered a press report from the time that the true identity of the buyer was revealed.

Mr Gascoigne continued: “By this stage, in 1827, Turner is a mature artist and he gets back a picture he painted in his early 20’s, in about 1799, and obviously feeling unsatisfied with certain aspects he goes in and adds to the painting.

“He made amendments, particularly in the sky and then sold the picture on to his great patron and the great collector of his later years, Hugh Andrew Johnstone, Munro of Novar.”

Mr Gascoigne said that by this time in his life, Turner was re-purchasing a number of his paintings with the view to bequeathing them to the nation.

The team at Sotheby's then analysed the picture using a specialist XRF (X-ray fluorescence) machine which mapped the elements and components in the paint.

The researchers then cross-referenced this information with their historical research and were able, finally, to confirm the painting as part of Turner’s legacy.

The combination of historical research and scientific analysis allowed the team to conclude that the painting was retouched by Turner himself in the late 1820s, using pigments that would have been available to him at the time.

Mr Gascoigne added: “This question mark has hung over the painting for years and thanks to the benefit of modern scientific analysis and modern scholarship and the ability to put the two pictures side by side again we have finally been able to answer that question, which is rare.

“What was once an unresolvable question has now been resolved.”