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He was so keen on clambering around the craggy cliffs of the Avon Gorge as a teenager that he was nicknamed “prince of the rocks”.
An exhibition featuring rarely seen JMW Turner watercolours inspired by his nimble explorations of the gorge is opening at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery. They are so fragile that they are rarely brought out of careful storage and may not be seen again for a while.
The show is partly a thank you to members of the public who donated more than £100,000 in a week, allowing the museum to bid for another recently discovered Turner painting of Bristol, The Rising Squall. Despite the efforts of Bristol art lovers and the museum, an anonymous UK private collector came in with a higher sum, scuppering the “bring Turner home” effort.
On display in the show are four watercolours painted by Turner during his first visit to the city at the end of the 18th century when he was 16. They reveal his growing skill in architectural detail, natural observation and dramatic composition.
Julia Carver, a curator of art at the museum, said Turner came to Bristol on holiday in 1791 and stayed with a family friend, John Narraway, a glue maker and fell monger (a dealer in animal skins). “They called him prince of the rocks because he spent so much time at the gorge,” Carver said.
His jaunts in and around the gorge showed Turner’s commitment to getting into the heart of the landscapes he painted, and throw forward to the story (which may be apocryphal) that in later life he bound himself to a ship’s mast to paint Snow Storm: Steam-Boat Off a Harbour’s Mouth.
One of the paintings in the show is called The Mouth of the Avon, Near Bristol, Seen from Cliffs Below Clifton. The view towards the sea is framed by the rocky walls of a spectacular cave underneath the site of the Clifton Observatory. “It’s a lovely, dramatic view,” Carver said.
A second painting, Avon Gorge and Bristol Hotwell, is another version of the view he painted in The Rising Squall when he returned to the city in 1792.
Carver said the museum did not know who pipped them to The Rising Squall. “We would be, of course, delighted if they were interested in lending the painting to us,” she said.
Philip Walker, the head of culture and creative industries at Bristol city council, said: “Bring Turner home was the most ambitious fundraising campaign we’ve ever attempted and we were overwhelmed by the support it received. This exhibition is our way of thanking supporters and celebrating Turner’s deep connection to Bristol.
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“With Prince of the Rocks, we can share his own Bristol watercolours, fragile works that rarely go on display, and mark his enduring legacy in this city.”
The exhibition features other prints by Turner and watercolours of the gorge by the Bristol artist Samuel Jackson, part of the Bristol School working 30 years after Turner.
Also on display are pieces from the museum’s natural history and science collections, including fossils and quartz crystals known locally as “Bristol diamonds”.
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Prince of the Rocks: JMW Turner and the Avon Gorge runs from 27 September to 11 January 2026 at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery. Entry is free.
