Close-up look at Turner's '£50m' Rome painting on show in the city

William Turner’s celebrated landscape, Rome from Mount Aventine, has returned to the city that inspired it approximately 2 centuries ago. The work, which offers a panoramic view of the Italian capital, will be on display at the Palazzo Rondinini for three days. Created in the 19th century, the painting originated from sketches Turner made while staying in Rome. The paint surface remains remarkably well preserved and is believed to have never undergone restoration; traces of fingerprints and brushwood hairs are still visible. The artwork has appeared at auction only once before, selling for more than £30 million. Sotheby’s expects that, when it goes under the hammer in London this December, it could realise around £50 million. The BBC’s Southern and Eastern Europe correspondent, Sarah Rainsford, was given a close‑up look at the painting while it was exhibited in Rome.