One of the last great Turner masterpieces remaining in private hands set a world auction record for the artist, selling for £30.3 million/ $47.4 million (est. £15-20m /$24.1-32.1m ) at Sotheby's London on Wednesday night. Turner now ranks as the most expensive of any pre-20th century British artist. Four bidders competed for 'Rome, from Mount Aventine', driving the work high above its pre-sale estimate.

The sale coincided with a wider moment of Turner mania, with the groundbreaking exhibition of “Late Turner” at the Tate and Mike Leigh’s new film “Mr Turner”.

Turner topped a high performing Old Master & British Paintings Evening sale which totalled £53,972,000 ($84,423,002), well above the high estimate (est. £32.2 - 44.9 million).

Painted in 1835 and exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1836, when Turner was 61 years old, Rome, from Mount Aventine is one of the artist’s supreme achievements and arguably the most important view of the Italian city ever painted. The large-scale oil painting is further distinguished by its exceptional state of preservation, as well as a prestigious and unbroken provenance. Until this evening’s sale, the work had changed hands only once in 1878, when it was acquired by the 5th Earl of Rosebery, later Prime Minister of Great Britain. The painting had since remained undisturbed in the Rosebery collection.

In 1836, The Morning Post described the work as “one of those amazing pictures by which Mr Turner dazzles the imagination and confounds all criticism: it is beyond praise.”

Commenting on the painting, Alex Bell, Joint International Head and Co-Chairman of Sotheby’s Old Master Paintings Department said: “It is hard to overstate the importance of Rome, from Mount Aventine. There are no more than half a dozen major works by Turner left in private hands and this work must rank as one of the very finest.

New Russian buyers were particularly active, along with established American and European collectors. This year, over 40% of bidders were new to the field, and almost 20% buyers were completely new to Sotheby's.