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J.M.W. Turner 'Swiss Lake' published for first time, goes on sale with 13 others

A previously unseen Turner watercolour is published for the first time in The Times today after its owner’s decision to sell a collection of 14 important works.

'A Swiss Lake, Lucerne', which was unrecorded because it has been in private hands until now, is among the shimmering landscapes that make up the finest collection of watercolours by the 19th-century master to come on the market in decades.

They are expected to send prices soaring to around £15 million at Sotheby’s in London this summer and range in subject matter from naturalistic depictions of British coastal scenes to impressionistic views of Switzerland, Germany, France and Italy.

Each exudes Turner’s energetic handling of colour, often applied in rapid strokes, smeared with his fingers or scratched with the tip of a brush...[The collection] was put together over about 20 years by Baron Guy Ullens, a Belgian who made a fortune in the food industry and whose company owns WeightWatchers. He has long been passionate about Turner and classical and contemporary Chinese art. He will now focus his resources on this other love.
Read entire article at Times (of London)