London – In the 250th year of J.M.W. Turner’s birth, Christie’s Classic Week London will present a total of five works on paper by this celebrated 18th century English titan, across three sales: Old Masters Evening Sale on 1July, Old Masters to Modern Day Sale: Paintings, Drawing, Sculpture on 2 July and Old Masters, 19th Century Paintings and Drawings from a Private Collection: Selling without Reserve, also on 2 July.

Providing engaging opportunities across price points, estimates range from works being offered without reserve up to £800,000.

Christie’s is proud to have set a world auction record for awork on paper by Turner in 2006 when The Blue Rigi sold for £5.8million, a record that still stands. Showing late Turner at the height of his powers as a watercolourist Lake Brienz, with the Setting Moon is a mesmerizingly peaceful Swiss view, from the 1840s (estimate: £600,000-800,000). Paving the way for the Impressionists, this work shows Turner focusing on the effects of changing light.

Property from The Estate of Sanford R. Robertson, it will be offered in the Old Masters Evening Sale on 1July. One of the earliest known works by Turner is View of Stoke House, near Bristol , circa 1790, which depicts a figure sketching in the foreground that is thought to be a self-portrait (estimate: £20,000-30,000).

Pendennis Castle and the entrance to Falmouth Harbour, Cornwall: Scene after a Wreck is from one of Turner’s famous series of watercolours that made his name: England and Wales (estimate: £60,000-100,000). Both works are offered in Old Masters, 19th Century Paintings and Drawings from a Private Collection: Selling without Reserve , on 2July. Selected Highlights: Christie’s Classic Week forms part of our programme of auctions, exhibitions and activities for the ‘London Summer Season’ in celebration of the dynamism and creativity London inspires.