Turner masterpiece returns to rightful home
It has been hiding away among the collection of treasures at a stately home for decades.
But now this sketch by famous artist JMW Turner is back in its rightful place on the Great Parlour wall at Wightwick Manor – and has already been the star of an episode of Antiques Roadshow.
The drawing has been re-mounted, and during filming of the show at the venue, experts valued it at £10,000.
House steward Helen Bratt-Wyton was interviewed by Rupert Maas about the sketch, which depicts Scarborough Castle.
She revealed the work is from Turner's renowned Smaller Fonthill Sketchbook in which the artist recorded sights he had seen on travels around the UK in 1799-1801.
When Turner died in 1851, pages of the sketchbook were dispersed to various collectors. One of the works also ended up in the drawing room of Wightwick Manor and has been inscribed along the bottom by John Ruskin, who was tasked with sorting out Turner's enormous legacy.
Bosses at Wightwick say it was unclear when the sketch entered the Mander Collection at the manor and there is no reference to it until a note in the Wightwick guide book in 1963.
John Wood, conservation and engagement manager at Wightwick Manor and Gardens, said: "Ruskin's inscription was the starting point for our research. Ruskin was the expert on Turner and his comments on the sketch show he thought this a fine example of his early work."
