The Lake of Lucerne from Brunnen, with a Steamer

$800,000–$1.2 million

“An exceptional watercolor, [J.M.W.] Turner’s Lake Lucerne is one of a group of studies the artist rendered during the last of his sojourns to the breathtakingly beautiful Swiss resort, which he first visited in 1802,” says Furio Rinaldi, a specialist in the old-master drawings department at Christie’s in New York. “It is the only one from this series remaining in private hands, the rest having been bequeathed to Tate Britain.” Executed in 1841–1842, the watercolor will be tendered by the house in its January 30 sale of old-master drawings in New York. christies.com

J. M. W. TURNER “My business is to paint what I see, not what I know is there.”