Painting is a Turner up for the book

6:40am Friday 4th July 2008

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A Twickenham scene depicted by one of Britain's most celebrated artists, JMW Turner, will make its first appearance on the open market in living memory next week, with bidding expected to exceed £5m.

The masterpiece, Pope's Villa at Twickenham, goes on sale at Sotheby's auction house in London on Wednesday, July 9.

�We expect this atmospheric, symbolic and masterfully painted river landscape to generate huge excitement when it goes under the hammer.�

Emmeline Hallmark

The oil on canvas has been in private hands for over 150 years and was last seen in the UK in 1827.

Head of British paintings at Sotheby's Emmeline Hallmark said: "We expect this atmospheric, symbolic and masterfully painted river landscape to generate huge excitement when it goes under the hammer."

She went on: "This exceptional landscape painting of the River Thames has been used to illustrate the artist's revolutionary approach to landscape painting."

JMW Turner was a great admirer of the Twickenham riverside and lived nearby.

His contemporary, John Landseer, said: "We scarcely remember any picture that more powerfully imparts its prevailing tone of tranquillity."

Undertaken in 1807 when Turner, aged 32, was appointed a Royal Academy professor, Pope's Villa at Twickenham is one of the few major Turner works to have remained in a private family collection.

It is being sold by the trustees of the late GM Dent-Brocklehurst to raise funds for the development of Sudeley Castle in Gloucestershire, where the painting has hung for the last 40 years.

Toby Davies, 52, an architect from Richmond, saw the painting and said: "It really is a stunning vision of the river and it's hard to imagine when you look at the riverside today."

The painting, estimated to fetch between £5m-7m, will be exhibited at the auction rooms from Saturday, July 5, until Wednesday, July 9. See next week's paper to find out how much it fetches.