The Temple of Jupiter Panellenius By JMW Turner Sells for $12.9 Million at Sotheby’s
Published January 30th, 2009
A work by Joseph Mallord William Turner – entitled The Temple of Jupiter Panellenius – has sold for $12.9 million / £9.1 million, a figure which represents the second highest price ever realised for a work by Turner at auction. Two bidders competed for the painting but the winning bid came from an anonymous buyer on the telephone.
The Temple of Jupiter Panellenius had been in the private collection of the prominent fine art dealer Richard L. Feigen for over 25 years and it was one of the most important oil paintings by Turner to have remained in private hands. The painting was a highlight of the retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work, JMW Turner RA, presented in 2008 by The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Dallas Museum of Art.
