"Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino" by J.M.W.Turner to be Auctioned at Sotheby's

Completed in 1839 by Joseph Mallord William Turner RA and mesauring 90.2 by 122cm (35.5 by 48 in), the oil on canvas "Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino" is going to be offered for auction at the Sotheby's Evening Sale of Old Master and Early British Paintings in London on Wednesday, 7 July 2010.

Firstly owned by Turner's close friend and patron scottish landowner and collector Hugh Munro of Novar, who bought the work directly from the artist’s Royal Academy exhibition of 1839, the painting was then acquired at auction by the 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847-1929) and his new wife Hannah Rothschild, while on their honeymoon, for the sum of 4,450 gns.

Loaned since 1978 to the National Gallery of Scotland, it was part of the exhibition "Turner and Italy".

Now it's going to be offered for sale at Sotheby's with an estimated value of £12-18 million.