,,illustrated ,,biographies ,,of ,,the ,,great ,,artists4 ,illustration3 decoration ,,joseph ,,mallord ,,william ,,turner ,,royal ,,academician4 ,illustration3 decoration ,,illustrated ,,biographies ,,of ,,the ,,great ,,artists4 ,,titian ,from the most recent authorities4 ,by ,richard ,ford ,heath1 ,m4,a41 ,hertford ,coll4 ,oxford4 ,,rembrandt ,from the ,text of ,c4 ,,vosmaer4 ,by ,j4 ,w4 ,mollett1 ,b4,a41 ,brasenose ,coll4 ,oxford4 ,,raphael ,from the ,text of ,j4 ,d4 ,,passavant4 ,by ,n4 ,d',anvers1 ,author of 8,elementary ,history of ,art40 ,,van ,,dyck ,,hals ,from the most recent authorities4 ,by ,percy ,r4 ,head1 ,lincoln ,coll4 ,oxford4 ,,holbein ,from the ,text of ,dr4 ,,woltmann4 ,by the ,editor1 ,author of 8,life and ,genius of ,rembrandt0 ,,tintoretto ,from recent investigations4 ,by ,w4 ,roscoe ,osler1 ,author of occasional ,essays on ,art4 ,,turner ,from the most recent authorities4 ,by ,cosmo ,monkhouse1 ,author of 8,studies of ,sir ,e4 ,landseer40 ,,the ,,little ,,masters ,from the most recent authorities4 ,by ,w4 ,b4 ,scott1 ,author of 8,lectures on the ,fine ,arts40 ,,hogarth ,from recent investigations4 ,by ,austin ,dobson1 ,author of 8,vignettes in ,rhyme10 c4 ,,rubens ,from recent investigations4 ,by ,c4 ,w4 ,kett1 ,m4,a41 ,hertford ,coll4 ,oxford4 ,,michelangelo ,from the most recent authorities4 ,by ,charles ,clment1 ,author of 8,michel-,ange1 ,lonard1 et ,raphael40 ,,lionardo ,from recent researches4 ,by ,dr4 ,j4 ,paul ,richter1 ,author of 8,die ,mosaiken von ,ravenna40 ,,giotto ,from recent investigations4 ,by ,harry ,quilter1 ,m4,a41 ,trinity ,college1 ,cambridge4 ,,the ,,figure ,,painters ,,of ,,the ,,netherlands4 ,by ,lord ,ronald ,gower1 ,author of 8,guide to the ,galleries of ,holland40 ,,velazquez ,from the most recent authorities4 ,by ,edwin ,stowe1 ,b4,a41 ,brasenose ,coll4 ,oxford4 ,,gainsborough ,from the most recent authorities4 ,by ,george ,m4 ,brock-,arnold1 ,m4,a41 ,hertford ,coll4 ,oxford4 ,,peugino ,from recent investigations4 ,by ,t4 ,adolphus ,trollope1 ,author of many ,essays on ,art4 ,,delaroche ,,vernet ,from the works of ,,charles ,,blanc4 ,by ,mrs4 ,ruutz ,rees1 ,author of various ,essays on ,art4 ,illustration3 ,,joseph ,,mallord ,,william ,,turner4 ,from a sketch by ,john ,gilbert4 8,the whole world without ,art would be one great wilderness40 ,illustration3 decoration ,,turner ,,by ,w4 ,,cosmo ,,monkhouse ,author of 8,studies of ,sir ,e4 ,landseer40 ,illustration ,,new ,,york3 ,,scribner ,,and ,,welford4 ,,london3 ,,sampson ,,low1 ,,marston1 ,,searle1 ,,rivington1 #ahgi4 7,all rights reserved47 ,,chiswick ,,press3--,c4 ,,whittingham1 ,,tooks ,,court1 ,,chancery ,,lane4 ,illustration3 decorative bar ,,preface4 ,the late ,mr4 ,thornbury lost such an opportunity of writing a worthy biography of ,turner as will never occur again4 ,how he dealt with the valuable materials which he collected is well known to all who have had to test the accuracy of his statements2 and unfortunately many of the channels from which he derived information have since been closed by death4 ,mr4 ,ruskin1 who might have helped so much1 has contributed little to the life of the artist but some brilliant passages of pathetic rhetoric4 ,overgrown by his luxuriant eloquence1 and buried beneath the dbris of ,thornbury1 the ruins of ,turner's ,life lay hidden till last year4 ,mr4 ,hamerton's 8,life of ,turner0 has done much to remove a very serious blot from ,english literature4 ,very careful1 but very frank1 it presents a clear and consistent view of the great painter and his art1 and is1 moreover1 penetrated with that intellectual insight and refined thought which illuminate all its author's work4 ,he has1 however1 left much to be done1 and this book will1 ,i hope1 help a little in clearing away long-standing errors1 and reducing the known facts about ,turner to something like order4 ,to these facts ,i have been able to add a few hitherto unpublished2 and it is a pleasant duty to return my thanks to the many kind friends and strangers for the pains which they have taken to supply me with information4 ,to ,mr4 ,f4 ,e4 ,trimmer1 of ,heston1 the son of ,turner's old friend and executor2 to ,mr4 ,john ,l4 ,roget2 to ,mr4 ,mayall1 and to ,mr4 ,j4 ,beavington ,atkinson1 my thanks are especially due4 ,in so small a book upon so large a subject1 ,i have often had much difficulty in deciding what to select and what to reject1 and have always preferred those events and stories which seem to me to throw most light upon ,turner's character4 ,on purely technical matters ,i have touched only when ,i thought it absolutely necessary4 ,this part of the subject has been already so well and fully treated by ,mr4 ,ruskin in numerous works1 too well known to need mention2 by ,mr4 ,hamerton in his 8,life of ,turner10 and 8,etching and ,etchers20 by ,messrs4 ,redgrave in their 8,century of ,english ,painters10 and by ,mr4 ,s4 ,redgrave in his introduction to the collection of water-colours at ,south ,kensington1 that ,i need only refer to these works such few among my readers as are not already acquainted with them4 ,i would also refer them for similar reasons to ,mr4 ,rawlinson's recent work on the 8,liber ,studiorum40 ,i should have liked to add to this volume accurate lists of ,turner's works and the engravings from them1 with information of their possessors1 and the extraordinary fluctuation in the prices which they have realized1 but this would have entailed great labour and have swelled unduly the bulk of this volume1 which is already greater than that of its fellows4 ,fortunately this information is likely to be soon supplied by ,mr4 ,algernon ,graves1 whose accurate catalogue of ,landseer's works is sufficient guarantee of the manner in which he will perform this more difficult task4 ,the edition of ,thornbury's 8,life of ,turner0 referred to throughout these pages1 is that of #ahgg4 ,w4 ,,cosmo ,,monkhouse4 ,illustration3 decorative bar ,,contents4 ,,part ,i4 #agge ,,to #agig4 ,,days ,,of ,,education ,,and ,,practice4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,page ,introductory #a ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,early ,days--#agge to #aghi #f ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,youth--#aghi to #agif #bj ,,part ,,ii4 #agig ,,to #ahbj4 ,,days ,,of ,,mastery ,,and ,,emulation4 ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,yorkshire and the young ,academician--#agig to #ahjg #ch ,,chapter ,v4 ,the 8,liber ,studiorum0 and the ,dragons #ee ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,harley ,street1 ,devonshire1 ,hammersmith1 and ,twickenham #ge ,,part ,,iii4 #ahbj ,,to #ahea4 ,,days ,,of ,,glory ,,and ,,decline4 ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,page ,italy and ,france--#ahbj to #ahdj #ib ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,light and ,darkness--#ahdj to #ahea #aba ,illustration3 decoration ,illustration3 decorative bar ,,turner4 ,,chapter ,i4 ,,introductory4 ,the task of writing a satisfactory life of ,turner is one of more than usual difficulty4 ,he hid himself1 partly intentionally1 partly because he could not express himself except by means of his brush4 ,his secretiveness was so consistent1 and commenced so early1 that it seems to have been an instinct1 or what used to be called by that name4 ,akin to the most divinely gifted poets by his supreme pictorial imagination1 he also seems on the other side to have been related to beings whose reasoning faculty is less than human4 ,when we look at such pictures as ,crossing the ,brook1 ,the ,fighting ,tmraire1 and ,ulysses and ,polyphemus1 we feel that we are in the presence of a mind as sensitive as ,keats's1 as tender as ,goldsmith's1 and as penetrative as ,shelley's2 when we read of the dirty discomfort of his home and of the difficulty with which his patrons1 and even his relations1 obtained access to his presence--how even his most intimate friends were not admitted to his confidence--we can only think of a hedgehog1 whose offensive powers being limited1 is warned by nature to live in a hole and roll itself up into a ball of spikes at the approach of strangers4 ,we are used to having our idols broken2 but we still fashion them with a persistency which seems to argue it a necessity of our nature1 that we should think of the life and character of gifted men as being the outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual grace we perceive in their works4 ,it is this habit which makes any attempt to write a life of ,turner pre-eminently unsatisfactory1 for his refined sense of the most ethereal of natural phenomena is not relieved by any refinement in his manners1 his supreme feeling for the splendour of the sun is unmatched by any light or brilliance in his social life2 his extreme sensibility1 a sensibility not only artistic but human1 to all the emotional influences of nature1 stands for ever as a contrast to his self-absorbed1 suspicious individuality4 ,there is of course no reason why a landscape painter should be refined in manner or choice in his habits4 ,there is no necessary connection between the subjects of such an artist and himself1 except his hand and eye4 ,he lives a life of visions that may come and go without affecting his life or even his thought1 as we generally use that word4 ,the most tremendous phenomena of nature may be seen and studied1 and reproduced with such power as to strike terror into those who see the picture1 and yet leave the artist unaltered in demeanour and taste4 ,even those men of genius who1 instead of employing their imagination upon nature's inanimate works1 devote themselves to the study of man himself1 socially and morally1 do not by any means show that relation between themselves and their finest work that we appear naturally to expect4 ,but all this1 though it may explain much1 still leaves unsatisfactory the task of writing the life of a man of whom such passages as the following could be sincerely written3-- 8,glorious in conception--unfathomable in knowledge--solitary in power--with the elements waiting upon his will1 and the night and morning obedient to his call1 sent as a prophet of ,god to reveal to men the mysteries of the universe1 standing1 like the great angel of the ,apocalypse1 clothed with a cloud1 and with a rainbow upon his head1 and with the sun and stars given into his hand40--,modern ,painters 7#ahdc71 p4 #ib4 8,towards the end of his career he would often1 ,i am assured on the best authority1 paint hard all the week till ,saturday night2 and he would then put by his work1 slip a five-pound note into his pocket1 button it securely up there1 and set off to some low sailor's house in ,wapping or ,rotherhithe1 to wallow till ,monday morning summoned him to mope through another week40--,,thornbury',s ,life of ,turner 7#ahgg71 pp4 #cac1 #cad4 ,the contrast is too great to make the picture pleasant1 the facts are too few to make it perfect2 to make it one or the other1 it would be necessary to do as ,turner did1 and rightly did1 with his perfect drawings--suppress facts that jarred with his scheme of form and colour1 and insert figures or mountains or clouds that were necessary to complete it2 but a biography is nothing if not real--it belongs to the other side of art4 ,the task would be rendered lighter1 if not more agreeable1 if we were frankly to accept the principle of a dual nature1 and cutting up our subject into halves1 treat ,turner the artist and ,turner the man as two separate beings2 and there would1 at first sight1 seem to be no more convincing proof of this duality than is afforded by ,turner4 ,he had an exquisitely sensitive apprehension of all physical phenomena1 and was able to hoard away his impressions by the thousand in that wonderful brain-store of his1 until they were wanted for pictures4 ,he stored them with his eye1 he reproduced them with his hand and memory4 ,these three were all of the finest1 and seemed to act without that process which is necessary to most of us before we can make use of our impressions1 viz41 the translation of them into words4 ,this process is as necessary for the nourishment of most minds as digestion for the nourishment of the body1 but to him it appears to have been almost entirely denied4 ,he had grasp enough of his impressions without it1 to enable him to analyze them and compose them pictorially2 but he could not give any account of them or of his method of composition1 and they had no sensible effect on his conversation4 ,he thus lived in two worlds--one the pictorial sight-world1 in which he was a profound scholar and a poet1 the other the articulate1 moral1 social word-world in which he was a dunce and underbred4 ,in the one he was great and happy1 in the other he was small and miserable2 for what philosophy he had was fatalist4 ,the riddle of life was too hard for his uncultivated intellect and starved heart to contemplate with any hope2 he was only at rest in his dreamland4 ,when he came down into this world of ours from his own clouds1 he brought some of his glory with him1 but without any cheerful effect2 for it came but as a foil to ruined castles1 the vice of mortals and the decay of nations4 ,yet1 while at a first view this distinction between ,turner as a man and ,turner as an artist seems complete1 further study shows that the man had a great and often a fatal influence on the artist1 and that this was not without reaction both serious and deep1 and so we find that his art and himself are no more to be divided in any human view of him than were his body and his soul when he was yet alive4 ,for these reasons we shall keep as close together as possible the histories of his life and his art1 a task always difficult and sometimes impossible on account of the scantiness of trustworthy data for the one and the almost infinite material for the other4 ,illustration3 decoration ,illustration3 decorative bar ,,chapter ,,ii4 ,,early ,,days4 #agge ,,to #aghi4 ,the appearance of ,turner's genius in this world is not to be accounted for by any known facts4 ,given his father and his mother1 his grandfather and grandmother1 on the father's side1 which is all we know of his ancestry1 given the date of his birth1 even though that was the #bcrd ,april 7,st4 ,george's day1 as has been so childishly insisted on71 #agge1 there seems to be positively no reason why ,william ,turner1 barber1 of #bf1 ,maiden ,lane1 opposite the ,cider ,cellar1 in the parish of ,st4 ,paul's1 ,covent ,garden1 and ,mary ,turner1 ne ,marshall1 his wife1 should have produced an artist1 still less1 one of the greatest artists that the world has yet seen4 ,there is only one fact1 and that a very sad one1 which might be held to have some connection with his genius4 8,great wits are sure to madness near allied10 sang ,dryden1#a and poor ,mrs4 ,turner became insane 8towards the end of her days40 ,this1 however1 will in no way account for the special quality of ,turner's genius4 ,he arose like many other great men in those days to help in opening the eyes of ,england to the beauties of nature1 one of the large and illustrious constellation of men of genius that lit the end of the last and the beginning of the present century1 and with that truth we must be content4 ,the earliest fact that we have on record which had any influence on ,turner is that his paternal grandfather and grandmother spent all their lives at ,south ,molton in ,devonshire4 ,although he is not known to have visited ,devonshire till he was thirty-seven years of age2#b he appears to have been proud of his connection with the county1 and to have asserted that he was a ,devonshire man4 ,this is1 as far as we know1 the solitary effect of ,turner's ancestry upon him4 ,of his father and mother the influence was necessarily great4 ,from his father he undoubtedly obtained his extraordinary habits of economy1 that spirit of a petty tradesman1 which was one of his most unlovely characteristics1 and1 be it added1 his honesty and industry also4 ,of his father we have several descriptions by persons who knew him2 of his mother1 one only1 and that1 unfortunately1 not so authentic4 ,we will give the lady the first place1 and it must be remembered that this unfavourable picture is drawn by ,mr4 ,thornbury from information derived from the ,rev4 ,henry ,syer ,trimmer1 the son of ,turner's old friend and executor1 the ,rev4 ,henry ,scott ,trimmer1 of ,heston1 who obtained it from ,hannah ,danby1 ,turner's housekeeper in ,queen ,anne ,street1 who got it from ,turner's father4 8,in an unfinished portrait of her by her son1 which was one of his first attempts1 my informant perceived no mark of promise2 and he extended the same remark to ,turner's first essays at landscape4 ,the portrait was not wanting in force or decision of touch1 but the drawing was defective4 ,there was a strong likeness to ,turner about the nose and eyes2 her eyes being represented as blue1 of a lighter hue than her son's2 her nose aquiline1 and the nether lip having a slight fall4 ,her hair was well frizzed--for which she might have been indebted to her husband's professional skill--and it was surmounted by a cap with large flappers4 ,her posture therein 7sic7 was erect1 and her aspect masculine1 not to say fierce2 and this impression of her character was confirmed by report1 which proclaimed her to have been a person of ungovernable temper1 and to have led her husband a sad life4 ,like her son1 her stature was below the average40 ,this as the result of a painted portrait by her son1 and verbal description by her husband1 is not too flattering1 and it is all we know of the character and appearance of poor ,mary ,turner4 ,of her belongings we know still less4 ,she is said to have been sister to ,mr4 ,marshall1 a butcher1 of ,brentford1 and first cousin to the grandmother of ,dr4 ,shaw1 author of 8,gallops in the ,antipodes10 and to have been related to the ,marshalls1 formerly of ,shelford ,manor ,house1 near ,nottingham4#c ,we are able to add to this scanty information that she was the younger sister of ,mrs4 ,harpur1 the wife of the curate of ,islington1 who was grandfather of ,mr4 ,henry ,harpur1 one of ,turner's executors4 ,he 7the grandfather7 fell in love with his future wife when at ,oxford1 and their marriage brought her sister to ,london4 ,we are also informed that the hard-featured woman crooning over the smoke1 in an early drawing by ,turner in the ,national ,gallery 7,an ,interior1 ,no4 #ae71 is ,turner's mother1 and the kitchen in which she is sitting1 the kitchen in ,maiden ,lane4 ,we have also ascertained that one ,mary ,turner1 from ,st4 ,paul's1 ,covent ,garden1 was admitted into ,bethlehem ,hospital on ,dec4 #bgth1 #ahjj1 one of whose sponsors for removal was 8,richard ,twenlow1 ,peruke ,maker40 ,this unfortunate lady1 whether ,turner's mother or not1 was discharged uncured in the following year4 ,altogether what we know about ,turner's mother does not inspire curiosity1 and we fear that she was never destined to figure in an edition of 8,the ,mothers of ,great ,men40 ,the 8sad life0 which she is said to have led her husband could scarcely have been sadder than her own4 ,of his father we have fuller information4 8,mr4 ,trimmer's description of the painter's parent1 the result of close knowledge of him1 is that he was about the height of his son1 spare and muscular1 with a head below the average standards0 7whatever that may mean7 8small blue eyes1 parrot nose1 projecting chin1 and a fresh complexion indicative of health1 which he apparently enjoyed to the full4 ,he was a chatty old fellow1 and talked fast1 and his words acquired a peculiar transatlantic twang from his nasal enunciation4 ,his cheerfulness was greater than that of his son1 and a smile was always on his countenance40 ,this description is of him when an old man1 but he must have been not very different from this when about one year and eighteen months after his marriage1 which took place on ,august #bith1 #aggc1 the little ,william was born4 ,he was not a man likely to alter much in habit or appearance4 ,he was always stingy1 if we may judge by the story of his following a customer down ,maiden ,lane to recover a halfpenny which he omitted to charge for soap1 and from his son's statement that his 8,dad0 never praised him for anything but saving a halfpenny4 ,as barbers are proverbially talkative1 and as persons do not generally develop cheerfulness in later life1 we may consider ,mr4 ,trimmer's portrait of the old man to be essentially correct of him when young1 especially as we find that ,turner the younger was always 8old looking10 a peculiarity which is generally hereditary4 ,the house 7now pulled down7 in which ,turner was born1 and in which1 for at least some time after1 father1 mother1 and son resided together1 is thus described by ,mr4 ,ruskin3 8,near the south-west corner of ,covent ,garden1 a square brick pit or well is formed by a close-set block of houses1 to the back windows of which it admits a few rays of light4 ,access to the bottom of it is obtained out of ,maiden ,lane1 through a low archway and an iron gate2 and if you stand long enough under the archway to accustom your eyes to the darkness1 you may see1 on the left hand1 a narrow door1 which formerly gave access to a respectable barber's shop1 of which the front window1 looking into ,maiden ,lane1 is still extant40 ,maiden ,lane is not a very brilliant thoroughfare1 and was still narrower and darker at this time1 but still this picture1 though doubtless accurate1 seems to make it still darker1 and in the engraving of the house in ,thornbury's life of ,turner1 even the front window that looked into ,maiden ,lane is rendered ominously black by the shadow of a watchman thrown up by his low-held lantern4 ,to us it seems that there is plenty of dark in ,turner's life without thus unduly heightening the gloom of his first dwelling-place4 ,a barber cannot do his work without light1 and we have no doubt that whatever sorrow fell upon ,turner in his life was in no way deepened by his having to pass through a low archway and an iron gate in order to get to his father's shop4 ,illustration3 ,,house ,,in ,,maiden ,,lane ,,in ,,which ,,turner ,,was ,,born4 ,the house in ,maiden ,lane would have been a cheerful enough and a wholesome enough nest for little ,william#d if it had contained a happy family presided over by a sweetly smiling mother4 ,this want is the real dark porch and iron gateway of his life1 the want which could never be supplied4 ,in that wonderful memory of his1 so faithful1 by all accounts1 to all places where he had once been happy1 there was no chamber stored with sweet pictures of the home of his youth2 no exhaustless reservoir of tender1 healthy sentiment1 such as most of us have1 however poor4 ,here is a note of pathos on which we might dwell long and strongly without fear of dispute or charge of false sentiment4 ,children1 indeed1 do not miss what they have not3 present sorrows did not probably affect his appetite1 future forebodings did not dim his hopes2 but then1 and for ever afterwards1 he was terribly handicapped in the struggle for peace and happiness on earth1 in his desire after right thinking and right doing1 in his aims at self-development1 in his chance of wholesome fellowship with his kind1 in his capacity for understanding others and making himself understood1 for all these things are more difficult of attainment to one who never has known by personal experience the charm of what we mean by 8home40 ,this want in his life runs through his art1 full as it is of feeling for his fellow-creatures1 their daily labour1 their merry-makings1 their fateful lives and deaths2 there is at least one note missing in his gamut of human circumstance--that of domesticity4 ,he shows us men at work in the fields1 on the seas1 in the mines1 in the battle1 bargaining in the market1 and carousing at the fair1 but never at home4 ,this is one of the principal reasons why his art has never been truly popular in home-loving domestic ,england4 ,it is not good for man1 still less for a boy1 to be alone1 and we do not think we can be wrong in thinking that he was a solitary boy4 ,how soon he became so we do not know4 ,we may hope that in his earliest years at least he was tenderly cared for by his mother1 and petted by his father4 ,there is no reason why we may not draw a bright picture of his childhood1 and fancy him walking on ,sundays with his father and mother in the ,mall of ,st4 ,james's ,park1 wearing a short flat-crowned hat with a broad brim over his curly brown hair1 with snowy ruffles round his neck and wrists1 and a gay sash tied round his waist1 concealing the junction between his jacket-waistcoat and his pantaloons2 but this bright period cannot have lasted long4 ,soon he must have been driven upon himself for his amusement1 and fortunate it was for him that nature provided him with one wholesome and endless4 ,it is known that one artist1 ,stothard1 was a customer of his father1 and it is probable that as there was an academy in ,st4 ,martin's ,lane1 and the ,society of ,artists at the ,lyceum1 and many artists resided about ,covent ,garden1 the little boy's emulation may have been excited by hearing of them1 and perhaps chatting with them and seeing their sketches4 ,he certainly began very early4 ,we are told that he first showed his talent by drawing with his finger in milk spilt on the teatray1 and the story of his sketching a coat-of-arms from a set of castors at ,mr4 ,tomkison's the jeweller1 and father of the celebrated pianoforte maker1 must belong to a very early age4#e ,the earliest known drawing by him of a building is one of ,margate ,church1 when he was nine years old1 shortly before he went to his uncle's at ,new ,brentford for change of air4 ,there he went to his first school and drew cocks and hens on the walls1 and birds1 flowers1 and trees from the school-room windows1 and it is added that 8his schoolfellows1 sympathizing with his taste1 often did his sums for him1 while he pursued the bent of his compelling genius40 ,very soon after this1 if not before1 he began to make drawings1 some of these copies of engravings coloured1 which were exhibited in his father's shop window at the price of a few shillings1 and he drew portraits of his father and mother1 and of himself at an early age4 ,it is said that his father intended him to be a barber at first1#f but struck with his talent for drawing soon determined that he should follow his bent and be a painter4 ,he is said to have delighted in going into the fields and down the river to sketch1 but all the very early drawings we have seen1 including those purchased at his father's shop1 are drawings of buildings1 mostly in ,london4 ,of these there is one of the interior of ,westminster ,abbey1 in ,mr4 ,crowle's edition of 8,pennant's ,london10 now in the print room of the ,british ,museum4 ,there is nothing to distinguish these from the work of any clever boy1 but this drawing and one in the ,national ,gallery1 of a scene near ,oxford1 both probably copied from prints1 show a sense not only of light but colour4 ,we have also seen a copy of ,boswell's 8,antiquities of ,england and ,wales10 with about seventy of the plates very cleverly coloured by him when a boy at ,brentford4 ,whatever defects ,turner1 the barber1 may have had as a father1 neglect of his son's talents was not one of them1 and1 though very careful for the pence1 he showed that he could make a pecuniary sacrifice when he had a chance of furthering his son's prospects1 for he refused to allow him to become the apprentice of one architect who offered to take him for nothing1 and paid the whole of a legacy he had been left to place him with another1 and we may presume a better one4 ,the information given by ,mr4 ,thornbury about his early training1 scholastic and professional1 is very meagre1 inconsecutive1 and puzzling4 ,according to him it was in #aghe that ,turner1 having been previously taught reading1 but not writing1 by his father1 went to his first school1 which was kept by ,mr4 ,john ,white1 at ,new ,brentford2 in #aghf or #aghg1 by which time at least his destination for an artist's career appears to have been settled1 he was sent to 8,mr4 ,palice1 a floral drawing-master10 at an ,academy in ,soho1 and in #aghh1 to a school kept by a ,mr4 ,coleman at ,margate2 at some time before #aghi1 to ,mr4 ,thomas ,malton1 a perspective draughtsman1 who kept a school in ,long ,acre1 and in this year to ,mr4 ,hardwick1 the architect1 and to the school of the ,royal ,academy4 ,he also went to ,paul ,sandby's drawing school in ,st4 ,martin's ,lane4 ,during all1 or nearly all this time1 he was1 according to ,mr4 ,thornbury1 employed3 #a4 ,in making drawings at home to sell4 #b4 ,in colouring prints for ,john ,raphael ,smith1 the engraver1 printseller1 and miniature painter4 #c4 ,out sketching with ,girtin4 #d4 ,making drawings of an evening at ,dr4 ,monro's#g in the ,adelphi4 #e4 ,washing in backgrounds for ,mr4 ,porden4 ,if he was really employed in this way from #aghe to #aghi1 and could only read and not write when he began this extraordinary course of training1 it is no wonder that he remained illiterate all his life1 or that his mind was utterly incapacitated for taking in and assimilating knowledge in the usual way4 ,spending a few months at a day school1 and a few more at a 8floral drawing master10 then a few more at school at ,margate1 making drawings for sale1 colouring prints1 fruitlessly studying perspective1 bandied about from school master to drawing master1 and from drawing master to architect--such a life for a young mind from ten to fourteen years of age is enough to spoil the finest intellectual digestion4 ,one fact1 however1 comes clear out of all this confusion1 that of regular and ordinary schooling he had little or none1 and there is no reason to suppose that it was because of the peculiar quality of his mind that he always spoke and wrote like a dunce4 ,he never had a fair chance of acquiring in his youth more than a traveller's knowledge of his own language1 and so his mind had a very small outlet through the ordinary channels of speech4 ,on the other hand1 faculties of drawing and composition were trained to the utmost1 and this compensated him in a measure4 ,his mind had only one entrance1 his eye1 and only one exit1 his hand2 but they were both exceptional1 and cultivated exceptionally4 ,illustration3 ,,chateau ,d',,amboise4 ,from 8,rivers of ,france40 ,there was1 however1 much of pleasure in this life for a boy like ,turner1 for though he evidently worked hard1 he liked work and the work he had to do was especially congenial to him4 ,he met friends and encouragers on all sides2 from his father to his school-fellows4 ,however much reason he may have had for disappointment in later years1 there was none in his early life4 ,he was 8found out0 in his childhood4 ,encouraged by his father1 with his drawings finding a ready sale to such men as ,mr4 ,henderson1 ,mr4 ,crowle1 and ,mr4 ,tomkison1 with plenty of employment in no slavish mean work for such a youngster1 such as colouring prints and putting in backgrounds to drawings1 with ,mr4 ,porden generously offering to take him as an apprentice for nothing1 with a kind friend like ,dr4 ,monro always willing to give him a supper and half-a-crown for sketches of the country near his residence at ,bushey1 or the result of an evening's copying of the then best attainable water colours2 his life was far more agreeable1 far more tended to make him think well of the world and of the people in it than has been usually represented1 and probably as good as he could have had for attaining early proficiency in his art4 ,london at that time was not a bad place for a landscape artist4 ,it was neither so clouded nor so sooty as it is now2 there were healthier trees in it1 and more of them1 a more picturesque and a purer river1 and within less than half an hour's walk from ,maiden ,lane there were green fields1 for north of the ,british ,museum the country was still open4 ,but he was not entirely dependent upon his art and his employers for enjoyment1 or for forming his opinion of the human race4 ,there were houses at which he visited and where he was received warmly4 ,when at school at ,margate he got an 8introduction to the pleasant family of a favourite school-fellow20 at ,bristol there was ,mr4 ,narraway1#h a fellmonger in ,broadmead1 and an old friend of his father1 at whose house he drew two of the children and his own portrait2 and at the house of ,mr4 ,william ,frederick ,wells1 the artist1 he was evidently one of the family1 as is proved by the charmingly tender reminiscences of ,mrs4 ,wheeler4 8,in early life my father's house was his second home1 a haven of rest from many domestic trials too sacred to touch upon4 ,turner loved my father with a son's affection2 and to me he was as an elder brother4 ,many are the times ,i have gone out sketching with him4 ,i remember his scrambling up a tree to obtain a better view1 and then he made a coloured sketch1 ,i handing up his colours as he wanted them4 ,of course1 at that time1 ,i was quite a young girl4 ,he was a firm affectionate friend to the end of his life2 his feelings were seldom seen on the surface1 but they were deep and enduring4 ,no one would have imagined1 under that rather rough and cold exterior1 how very strong were the affections which lay hidden beneath4 ,i have more than once seen him weep bitterly1 particularly at the death of my own dear father1#i which took him by surprise1 for he was blind to the coming event1 which he dreaded4 ,he came immediately to my house in an agony of tears4 ,sobbing like a child1 he said1 #8,oh1 ,clara1 ,clara6 these are iron tears4 ,i have lost the best friend ,i ever had in my life4' ,oh6 what a different man would ,turner have been if all the good and kindly feelings of his great mind had been called into action2 but they lay dormant1 and were known to so very few4 ,he was by nature suspicious1 and no tender hand had wiped away early prejudices1 the inevitable consequence of a defective education4 ,of all the light-hearted merry creatures ,i ever knew1 ,turner was the most so2 and the laughter and fun that abounded when he was an inmate of our cottage was inconceivable1 particularly with the juvenile members of the family40--,,thornbury',s ,life of ,turner 7#ahgg71 pp4 #bce1 #bcf4 ,a man who knew this lady for sixty years1 and about whom so kind a heart could have thus written1 could not have been driven to a life of morbid seclusion because the world had treated him so badly in his youth4 ,his home may have been1 and probably was a cheerless one1 and we may well pity him on that account4 ,the rest of our pity we had better reserve for his want of education1 and the secretive1 suspicious disposition which nature gave him1 and which he allowed to master his more genial propensities4 ,illustration3 decorative bar ,,chapter ,,iii4 ,,youth4 #aghi to #agif4 ,the only rebuff with which the young artist appears to have met was from ,tom ,malton1 the perspective draughtsman1 who sent him back to his father as a boy to whom it was impossible to teach geometrical perspective4 ,as ,mr4 ,hamerton observes1 8,there is nothing in this which need surprise us in the least4 ,scientific perspective is a pursuit which may amuse or occupy a mathematician1 but the stronger the artistic faculty in a painter the less he is likely to take to it1 for it exercises other faculties than his4 ,besides this1 he feels instinctively that he can do very well without it40 ,no doubt he did feel this1 and the feeling very much lessened the disappointment at being 8sent back10 and he did very well without it1 so well that he was appointed ,professor of ,perspective to the ,royal ,academy without it1 and not unfrequently exhibited pictures on its walls1 which showed how very much 8without it0 he was4 ,otherwise he met with no rebuffs in his art4 ,we have seen that he got plenty of employment1 and have expressed an opinion that that employment--colouring engravings1 and putting in backgrounds and foregrounds and skies for architectural drawings--was no mean employment for a youngster4 ,he himself1 when pitied in later years for this supposed degradation and slavery1 replied1 8,well1 and what could be better practice60 and it was this and more4 ,it not only taught him to work neatly1 to lay flat washes smoothly and accurately1 but it taught him to exercise his ingenuity and artistic taste4 ,he probably succeeded so well1 because it gave him an opportunity of displaying his artistic faculty4 ,every sketch that he had thus to beautify presented an artistic problem1 how best to light and decorate and make a picture of the bare bones of an architectural design4 ,it gave him a sense of power and importance thus to be the converter of topography into art2 it taught him the value of light and shade1 and the decorative capacities of trees and sky4 ,his success gave him self-reliance4 ,it also1 and this was perhaps a more doubtful advantage1 taught him to consider drawing as a skill in beautifying4 ,he got the habit of treating buildings as objects less valuable as objects of art in themselves1 than for the breaking of sunbeams1 and as straight lines to contrast with the endless curves of nature2 and also the habit of using trees as he wanted them1 of bending their boughs and moulding their contours in harmony with the poem-picture of his imagination4 ,to this early treatment of architectural drawings may be traced his great power of composition1 and also much of his mannerism4 ,that he soon knew his power1 and had his secrets of manipulation1 may be one reason for his early secretiveness about his art2 for though there is little in these early works of his to prefigure his coming greatness1 he1 when a youth1 attained a proficiency equal to that of the best water-colour artists of his day1 and1 with his friend ,girtin1 soon surpassed all except ,cozens2 and he could not have done this without a sense of superiority and many private experiments2 or1 on the other hand1 he may1 like many men1 have required complete solitude to work at all1 though this was not the case in later life1 as he often painted almost the whole of his pictures on the ,academy walls4 ,at all events1 the degree of his secretiveness is extraordinary4 8,i knew him10 says an old architect1 8when a boy1 and have often paid him a guinea for putting backgrounds to my architectural drawings1 calling upon him for this purpose at his father's shop in ,maiden ,lane1 ,covent ,garden4 ,he never would suffer me to see him draw1 but concealed1 as ,i understood1 all that he did in his bedroom40 ,when in this bedroom one morning1 the door suddenly opened1 and ,mr4 ,britton entered4#aj ,in an instant ,turner covered up his drawings and ran to bar the crafty intruder's progress4 8,i've come to see the drawings for the ,earl40#aa 8,you shan't see 'em10 was the reply4 8,is that the answer ,i am to take back to his lordship80 8,yes2 and mind that next time you come through the shop1 and not up the back way40 ,when ,mr4 ,newby ,lowson accompanied him on a tour on the continent he 8did not show his companion a single sketch40 ,similar stories could be added to show how this habit continued through his life4 ,the dates of these two early stories are not given by ,mr4 ,thornbury1 nor the name of the 8old architect10 but they show that he was early employed by a nobleman1 and that he got a guinea a piece for his backgrounds1 not only 8good practice10 but good pay for a youth2 he was1 in fact1 better employed and better paid than any young artist whose history we can remember4 ,nor does it seem to have been the fault of ,providence if he did not enjoy the crowning happiness of life1 a friend of suitable tastes1 for ,girtin was sent to him1 a youth of his own age endowed with similar gifts1 and of a most sociable disposition2 nor did he want a capable mentor1 for he had ,dr4 ,monro1 8his true master10 as ,mr4 ,ruskin calls him4 ,it was at ,raphael ,smith's that he formed an intimacy with ,girtin1 says ,mr4 ,alaric ,watts4#ab 8,his son1 ,mr4 ,calvert ,girtin1 described his father and young ,turner as associated in a friendly rivalry1 under the hospitable roof and superintendence of that lover of art1 ,dr4 ,monro 7then residing in the ,adelphi74 ,nor was ,turner forgetful of the ,doctor's kindness1 for on referring to that period of his career1 in a conversation with ,mr4 ,david ,roberts1 he said1 #8,there1' pointing to ,harrow1 #8,girtin and ,i have often walked to ,bushey and back1 to make drawings for good ,dr4 ,monro1 at half-a-crown apiece and a supper4'0 ,if a saying quoted by ,t4 ,miller in his 8,memoirs of ,turner and ,girtin0 may be trusted1#ac ,turner may have met ,gainsborough and other eminent painters of the day at ,dr4 ,monro's4 ,speaking of ,dr4 ,monro's conversaziones1 8,old ,pine1 of #8,wine and ,walnuts' celebrity1 used to say1 #8,what a glorious coterie there was1 when ,wilson1 ,marlow1 ,gainsborough1 ,paul1 and ,tom ,sandby1 ,rooker1 ,hearne1 and ,cozins 7sic7 used to meet1 and you1 old ,jack1' turning to ,varley1 #8were a boy in a pinafore1 with ,turner1 ,girtin1 and ,edridge as bigwigs1 on whom you used to look as something beyond the usual amount of clay4'0 ,as ,gainsborough died in #aghh1 when ,turner was thirteen years old1 and ,turner was only two years the senior of ,john ,varley1 this shows how early he began to have a reputation4 ,the acquaintance between ,turner and ,girtin is one of the most interesting facts in ,turner's ,life4 ,being more than two years ,turner's senior 7,girtin was born on ,february #ahth1 #aggc7 and having at least equal talent as a boy1 it is probable that he was 8ahead0 of ,turner at first1 and that ,turner learnt much from him4 ,we may therefore accept as true his reputed sayings1 8,had ,tom ,girtin lived1 ,i should have starved20#ad and 7of one of ,girtin's 8yellow0 drawings71 8,i never in my whole life could make a drawing like that1 ,i would at any time have given one of my little fingers to have made such a one40#ad ,with regard to their mutual studies and their respective talents we have information in the studies and drawings themselves1 but with regard to their human relationship we have very little4 ,turner always spoke of him as 8,poor ,tom10 and proposed to1 and possibly did1 put up a tablet to his memory2 but there are no letters or anecdotes to show that what we all mean by 8friendship0 ever existed between them4 ,we are equally ignorant as to the amount of intimacy between him and ,dr4 ,monro1 for though the latter did not die till #ahcc1 there is nothing to show that they ever met after ,turner's student days were over4 ,it may1 however1 be fairly assumed that we should have known more about his intimacy with his ,achates and his ,mcenas if it had been great and continuous4 ,the absence of documents or rumours on the subject are all in favour of his having kept himself to himself1 of his absorption in his art from an early date1 neglecting the social advantages that were open to him1 neglecting intellectual intercourse with his artistic peers1 neglecting everything except the pursuit of his art1 and the road to wealth and fame4 ,this self-absorption1 this concentration of all his time and power to this one but triple object1 the trinity of his desire1 may have arisen from a natural cause1 the strength of impelling genius over which he had no control2 it may have arisen from secretiveness1 suspicion1 selfishness1 and ambition1 which he could have controlled but would not2 but whatever its cause1 there is no doubt that it existed1 and that with every external facility for becoming a social and cultivated being1 he took the solitary path which led him to greatness 7not perhaps greater than he might have otherwise attained71 but a greatness accompanied with mental isolation and ignorance of all but what he could gather from unaided observation1 and an uncultivated intellect4 ,the education of ,turner may be summed up as follows3 he learnt reading from his father1 writing and probably little else at his schools at ,brentford and ,margate1 perspective 7imperfectly7 from ,t4 ,malton1 architecture 7imperfectly and classical only7 from ,mr4 ,hardwick1 water-colour drawing from ,dr4 ,monro1 and perhaps some hints as to painting in oils from ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 in whose house he studied for a while4 ,the rest of his power he cultivated himself1 being much helped by the early companionship of ,girtin4 ,nearly all1 if not all1 this education except that mentioned in the last paragraph was over in #aghi1 when ,sir ,joshua laid down his brush1 conscious of failing sight1 and young ,turner became a student of the ,royal ,academy4 ,illustration3 ,,nantes4 ,from 8,rivers of ,france40 ,these were his principal living instructors1 but he learnt more from the dead--from ,claude and ,vandevelde1 from ,titian and ,canaletto1 from ,cuyp and ,wilson4 ,he learnt most of all from nature1 but in the beginning of his career his studies from art are more apparent in his works4 ,there is scarcely one of his predecessors or contemporaries of any character in water-colour painting that he did not copy1 whose style and method he did not study1 and in part adopt4 ,we have within the last few years only been able to study at ease the works of the early water-colour painters of ,england1 and the result of the interesting collections now at ,south ,kensington and the ,british ,museum1 bequests of ,mr4 and ,mrs4 ,ellison1 ,mr4 ,towshend1 ,mr4 ,william ,smith1 and ,mr4 ,henderson1 has been on the one hand to increase our opinion of their merit1 and on the other to show how far ,turner outstripped them4 ,we can now see how true and delicate were the lightly-washed monochrome water scenes of ,hearne2 how robust the studies of ,sandby2 that ,daniell and ,dayes could not only draw architecture well1 but could warm their buildings with sun1 and surround them with space and air2 that ,cozens could conceive a landscape-poem1 and execute it in delicate harmonies of green and silver2 that ,girtin could invest the simplest study with the feeling of the pathos of ruin and solemnity of evening2 the first of water-colour painters to feel and paint the soft penetrative influence of sunlight1 subduing all things with its golden charm4 ,in looking at one of his drawings now at ,south ,kensington1 a ,view of the ,wharfe1 and comparing it with the works around1 one cannot help being struck with this difference1 that it is complete as far as it goes1 the realization of one thought1 the perfect rendering of an impression1 harmonious to a touch4 ,broad and almost rough as it is1 it is yet finished in the true sense as no ,english work of the kind ever was before4 ,there are more elaborate drawings around1 plenty of struggle after effects of brighter colour1 much cleverness1 much skill1 but nowhere a picture so completely at peace with itself4 ,in looking at it we can realize what ,turner meant when he said that he could never make drawings like ,girtin4 ,equal harmony of tone1 far greater and more splendid harmonies of colour1 miracles of delicate drawing1 triumphs over the most difficult effects1 dreams of ineffable loveliness1 very many things unattempted by ,girtin he could achieve1 but never this simple sweet gravity1 never this perfection of spiritual peace4 ,but in spite of this1 the great fact in comparing ,turner with the other water-colour painters of his own time--and we are speaking now of his early works--is this1 that whereas each of the best of the others is remarkable for one or two special beauties of style or effect1 he is remarkable for all4 ,he could reach near1 if not quite1 to the golden simplicity of ,girtin1 to the silver sweetness of ,cozens2 he could draw trees with the delicate dexterity of ,edridge1 and equal the beautiful distances of ,glover2 he could use the poor body-colours of the day1 or the simple wash of sepia1 with equal cleverness4 ,he was not only technically the equal1 if not master of them all1 but he comprehended them1 almost without exception4 ,such mastery was not attained without extraordinary diligence in the study of pictures4 ,at ,dr4 ,monro's he could study all the best modern men1 including ,gainsborough1 ,morland1 ,wilson1 and ,de ,loutherbourg1 and he could also study ,salvator ,rosa1 ,rembrandt1 ,claude1 and ,vandevelde4 ,one day looking over some prints with ,mr4 ,trimmer1#ae he took up a ,vandevelde and said1 8,that made me a painter40 ,and ,dayes 7,girtin's master7 wrote in #ahjd3--8,the way he acquired his professional powers was by borrowing where he could a drawing or a picture to copy from1 or by making a sketch of any one in the ,exhibition#af early in the morning1 and finishing it at home40 ,the character of his early works is sufficient of itself to prove the extent of his study of pictures1 and we are inclined to think that most of his early practice was from works of art1 and not from nature4 ,the spirit of rivalry commenced in him very early2 it was the only test of his powers1 and he seems to have pitted himself in the beginning of his career against all his contemporaries1 from ,mr4 ,henderson to ,girtin1 and many of the old masters1 and never to have entirely relinquished the habit4 ,when we think of the number of years he spent in doing little but topographical drawings1 a castle here1 a town there1 an abbey there1 with appropriate figures in the foreground1 using only sober browns and blues for colours1 his progress seems to have been very slow2 but when we see most of the artists of his time doing exactly the same1 and that the old landscape painters whom he principally studied were almost as limited in the colours they employed1 especially in their drawings1 we do not see how he could well have progressed more quickly2 and when we further consider the enormous distance which he travelled--from the very bottom to the very height of his art--that he should have accomplished it all in one short life appears miraculous4 ,the milestones of his journey are not shown plainly in his early work1 that is all4 ,that there was much conscious restraint on his part in the use of colours1 that he of wise purpose devoted himself to perfection of his technical power before he endeavoured to show his strength to the world1 we see no reason to believe4 ,he could not well have done otherwise1 and for such an original mind one marvels to observe how throughout his career he was led in the chains of circumstance4 ,the poet-painter1 the dumb-poet1 as he has well been called1 shows little eccentricity of genius in his youth4 ,there was the strong inclination to draw1 but no strong inclination to draw anything in particular1 or anything very beautiful4 ,on the contrary1 he drew the most uninteresting and prosaic of things1 copied bad topographical prints and ugly buildings4 ,when it was proposed to make him an architect he did not rebel2 when it was afterwards proposed to make him a portrait-painter he did not murmur4 ,it was ,mr4 ,hardwick1 not himself1 that insisted on his going to the ,royal ,academy4 ,his first essay in oils was due to another's instigation4 ,whatever work came to him1 he did2 that which he could do best1 that which he had special genius for1 the painting of pure landscape1 he scarcely attempted at all for years4 ,almost every artist of that day went about ,england drawing abbeys1 seats1 and castles for topographical works4 ,what others did1 he did4 ,what others did not do1 he did not do4 ,no doubt it was the only profitable employment he could get1 and he very properly took it1 and worked hard at it2 he was borne along the stream of circumstance as everybody else is1 but he1 unlike most men of strong genius1 seems never to have attempted to stem its tide1 or get out of its way4 ,his genius was a growth to which every event and accident of his life added its contribution of nourishment4 ,though stirred with unusual power1 he was probably almost as unconscious as to what it tended as a seed in the ground2 he had a dim perception of a light towards which he was growing2 he was conscious that he put forth leaves1 and that he should some day flower1 but when1 and with what special bloom he was destined to surprise the world1 we doubt if he had any prophetic glimpse4 ,his development was extraordinary1 and could only have been produced by special careful training1 but this training was mainly due to circumstances over which he had no control4 ,nature came to his assistance in a thousand different ways1 and in nothing more than giving him a quiet temperament1 like that of ,coleridge's child1 8that always finds1 and never seeks40 ,he was not fastidious1 except with regard to his own work1 and about that1 more as to the arrangement and finish of it than the subject4 ,he had an excellent constitution1 early inured to rough it1 and his comforts were very simple and easily obtained4 ,he was not particular1 even about his materials and tools2 any scrap of paper would do for a sketch on an emergency4 ,he was always able to work1 and to work swiftly and well4 ,no fidgeting about for hours and days because he was not in the mood2 no sacrifice of sketch after sketch because they did not please him2 none of that nervous restlessness which so often attends imaginative workers2 and his work was imaginative from the first--if not in conception1 in execution4 ,solitude seems to have been the only necessary condition for the free exercise of his powers1 which were as happily employed in 8making a picture0 of one thing as of another1 and when he wanted something to put in it to get it 8right10 he never had much trouble in finding it4 ,he said1 8,if when out sketching you felt a loss1 you have only to turn round1 or walk a few paces further1 and you had what you wanted before you40 ,his physical powers were also great1 and his mind was active in receiving impressions4 ,mr4 ,lovell ,reeve1 as quoted by ,mr4 ,alaric ,watts1 says3--8,his religious study of nature was such that he would walk through portions of ,england1 twenty to twenty-five miles a day1 with his little modicum of baggage at the end of a stick1 sketching rapidly on his way all striking pieces of composition1 and marking effects with a power that daguerreotyped them in his mind4 ,there were few moving phenomena in clouds and shadows that he did not fix indelibly in his memory1 though he might not call them into requisition for years afterwards40 ,he was not tied to any particular method1 or bound to any particular habit2 when he found that his way of sketching was too minute and slow to enable him to make his drawings pay their expenses1 he changed his style to a broader1 swifter one4 ,so1 without going quite to the length of ,mr4 ,hamerton1 who appears to think that everything in ,turner's youth 7including ugliness and bandy legs7 happened for the best in the best of possible worlds1 we may safely affirm that he could scarcely have been gifted with a temperament better suited for steady progress1 or one which was more calculated to make him happy1 for it enabled him to exercise his body and mind at the same time1 to earn his living and to lay up stores of pictorial beauty in his memory1 to do whatever task was set him1 and yet get artistic pleasure out of even the most commonplace study by embellishing it with his imagination4 ,in #aghi he became a student of the ,royal ,academy1 and in the year after he exhibited a ,view of the ,archbishop's ,palace at ,lambeth4 ,in #agia1 #b1 and #c he exhibited several topographical drawings1 but down to this time he seems to have made no sketching tours of any length4 ,he drew in the neighbourhood of ,london1 and his journeys to stay with friends at ,margate and ,bristol will account for his drawings of ,malmesbury1 ,canterbury1 and ,bristol4 ,but about #agib he received a commission from ,mr4 ,j4 ,walker1 the engraver 7who also afterwards employed ,girtin71 to make drawings for his 8,copper-plate ,magazine40 ,this was the beginning of the long series of engravings from his works1 and it may have been one of the reasons which decided him to set up a studio for himself1 which he did in ,hand ,court1 ,maiden ,lane1 close to his father1 where he remained till he was elected an ,associate of the ,royal ,academy in #ahjj1 when he removed to #fd1 ,harley ,street4 ,a year or so after his employment by ,walker he got similar commissions from ,mr4 ,harrison for his 8,pocket ,magazine40 ,these commissions sent him on his travels over ,england referred to by ,mr4 ,lovell ,reeve4 ,the copper-plates of the sketches for ,walker1 including some after ,girtin1 were found about sixty years afterwards by ,mr4 ,t4 ,miller1 who republished them in #ahed1 in a volume called 8,turner and ,girtin's ,picturesque ,views1 sixty years since40 ,these drawings mark his first tour to ,wales1 on which he set forth on a pony lent by ,mr4 ,narraway4 ,the first public results of this tour were the drawing of ,chepstow in 8,walker's ,magazine0 for ,november1 #agid1 and three drawings in the ,royal ,academy for that year4 ,by the next year's engravings and pictures we trace him to 8,nottingham10 8,bridgnorth10 8,matlock10 8,birmingham10 8,cambridge10 8,lincoln10 8,wrexham10 8,peterborough10 and 8,shrewsbury10 and by those of #agif and #agig to 8,chester10 8,neath10 8,tunbridge10 8,bath10 8,staines10 8,wallingford10 8,windsor10 8,ely10 8,flint10 8,hampton ,court1 ,herefordshire10 8,salisbury10 8,wolverhampton10 8,llandilo10 8,the ,isle of ,wight10 8,llandaff10 8,waltham10 and 8,ewenny 7,glamorgan710 not including drawings of places he had been to before4 ,his furthest point north was ,lincoln1 his farthest west 7in ,england7 ,bristol4 ,the only parts in which he reached the coast were in ,wales and the ,isle of ,wight4 ,lancashire and the ,lakes1 ,yorkshire and its waterfalls1 were yet to come1 and nearly all coast scenery1 except that of ,kent4 ,the drawings for the ,magazines were not remarkable for any poetry or originality of treatment perceptible in the engravings1 the cathedrals being generally taken from an unpicturesque point of view1 more with the object of showing their length and size than their beauty1 to which he appears to have been somewhat insensible always2 they show a great love of bridges and anglers--there is scarcely one without a bridge1 and some have two2 a desire to tell as much about the place as possible by the introduction of figures2 they show his habit of taking his scenes from a distance1 generally from very high ground1 and his delight in putting as much in a small space as possible1 and his power of drawing masses of houses1 as in the ,birmingham and the ,chester4 ,the result of these tours may be said to have been the perfection of his technical skill1 the partial displacement of traditional notions of composition1 and the storing of his memory with infinite effects of nature4 ,it was as good and thorough discipline in the study of nature1 as his former life had been in the study of art1 and though his visit to ,yorkshire in the next year 7#agig7 seemed necessary to bring thoroughly to the surface all the knowledge and power he had acquired1 it was not without present fruit4 ,rather of necessity than choice1 we may observe1 he confined his powers mainly to the drawing of views of places supposed to be of interest to the subscribers of the ,magazines1 but his individual inclinations in the choice of subject1 and his tendency to purer landscape and sea-view1 showed themselves now and then4 ,first in his drawing of ,the ,pantheon1 the ,morning after the ,fire1 exhibited in #agib2 next in #agic1 in his ,view on the ,river ,avon1 near ,st4 ,vincent's ,rocks1 ,bristol1 and the ,rising ,squall1 ,hot ,wells1#ag from the same place2 then in #agid1 ,second ,fall of the ,river ,monach1 ,devil's ,bridge2 in #agie1 ,view near the ,devil's ,bridge1 ,cardiganshire1 with the ,river ,ryddol2 in #agif1 ,fishermen at ,sea2 and in #agig1 ,fishermen coming ,ashore at ,sunset1 previous to a ,gale1 and ,moonlight3 a study in ,milbank1#ah now in the ,national ,gallery4 ,that his genius was perceptible even in these early days is evident from the notice taken in a contemporary review of his drawings in #agid1 when he was nineteen4 8#chh4 ,christchurch ,gate1 ,canterbury4 ,w4 ,turner4 ,this deserving picture1 with ,nos4 #ccc and #ccf1 are amongst the best in the present exhibition4 ,they are the productions of a very young artist1 and give strong indications of first-rate ability2 the character of ,gothic architecture is most happily preserved1 and its profusion of minute parts massed with judgment and tinctured with truth and fidelity4 ,this young artist should beware of contemporary imitations4 ,his present effort evinces an eye for nature1 which should scorn to look to any other source40 ,again in #agif1 the 8,companion to the ,exhibition10 with regard to his first sea-piece contains this paradoxical sentence1 attempting to express his peculiar power of giving a distinct impression of ill-defined objects1 which was apparently evident even in this early work4 8,colouring natural1 figures masterly1 not too distinct--obscure perception of the objects distinctly seen--through the obscurity of the night--partially illumined40 ,again in #agig1 we have this testimony as to the extraordinary 7for that time7 character of his work1 from an entry in the diary of ,thomas ,greene1 of ,ipswich1 about the ,fishermen of #agig4 8,june #b1 #agig4 ,visited the ,royal ,academy ,exhibition4 ,particularly struck with a sea-view by ,turner2 fishing vessels coming in1 with a heavy swell1 in apprehension of tempest gathering in the distance1 and casting1 as it advances1 a night of shade1 while a parting glow is spread with fine effect upon the shore4 ,the whole composition bold in design and masterly in execution4 ,i am entirely unacquainted with the artist2 but if he proceeds as he has begun1 he cannot fail to become the first in his department40 ,here1 then1 before ,turner's visit to ,yorkshire1 we have evidence that not only was the superiority of his work apparent1 but that one or two of the special qualities which were to mark it in the future were already perceived1 and publicly praised4 ,after looking carefully at all the ascertainable facts of ,turner's youth1 we can only come to the conclusion that it was not the fault of nature or mankind that he grew into a solitary and disappointed man4 ,secretiveness on his own part and want of trust in his fellow-creatures seem to have been bred in him1 and to have resisted all the many proofs which the friends of his youth1 and we may say of his life1 afforded1 that there were kind and unselfish persons in the world whom he could trust1 and who would trust him4 ,there is no proof that he ever had confidential relations with any human being1 not even ,girtin4 ,that he should have willingly cut himself adrift from human fellowship we are loath to believe1 in spite of the many facts which seem to support it4 ,it seems more natural1 and on the whole 7sad as even this is7 more pleasant1 to believe that he met with a severe blow to his confidence2 that1 though naturally suspicious1 the many kindnesses he received were not without a gracious effect1 but that his budding trust was killed by a sudden unexpected frost4 ,for these reasons we are inclined to believe in the story of his early love2 although it1 as told by ,mr4 ,thornbury1 is not without inconsistencies4 ,turner is said to have plighted vows with the sister of his school friend at ,margate2 he left on a tour1 giving her his portrait1 the letters between them were intercepted1 and after waiting two years she accepted another4 ,when he reappeared she was on the eve of her marriage1 and thinking her honour involved1 refused to return to her old love4 ,such in short is the story which we wish to believe1 and as it came to ,mr4 ,thornbury from one who heard it from relatives of the lady1 to whom she told it1 there is probably some truth in it4 ,it is1 however1 almost impossible to believe that ,turner1 whose tours never extended to two years1 and whose power of locomotion was extraordinary1 should allow that time to elapse without going to see one whom he really loved4 ,if he did not get any letters he would have been desperate2 if he did get letters they would have shown him that she had not received his1 which would have made him1 if possible1 more desperate still4 ,as the name of the lady is not given1 it is next to impossible to find out the truth4 ,our faith1 however1 as a balance of probability1 still remains that ,turner was jilted1 and that the effect of it was to confirm for ever his want of confidence in his fellow-creatures4 ,illustration3 decoration ,illustration3 decorative bar ,,chapter ,,iv4 ,,yorkshire ,,and ,,the ,,young ,,academician4 #agig ,,to #ahjg4 ,from the facts of the foregoing chapter it may be fairly presumed that although ,turner's election as ,associate in #agii followed quickly after his fine display of pictures from the northern counties in #agih1 he was before this a marked man1 whose superiority over all then living landscape painters was visible to critics and lovers of art1 and could not have been disguised from the eyes of the artists of the ,royal ,academy4 ,it did not require a genius like that of ,turner to distance competitors on the ,academy walls in those days4 ,england was almost at its lowest point both in literature and art4 ,the great men of the earlier part of the eighteenth century1 ,pope1 ,thomson1 ,gray1 ,collins1 ,swift1 ,fielding1 ,sterne and ,richardson1 had long been dead1 and of the later brilliant1 but small circle of artists and men of letters of which ,dr4 ,johnson was the centre 7,goldsmith and ,burke1 ,garrick and ,reynolds1 ,hume and ,gibbon71 ,reynolds only was left1 and he was moribund4 ,of other artists with any title to fame there was none left but ,de ,loutherbourg and ,morland2 ,hogarth had died in #agfd1 ,wilson in #aghb1 ,gainsborough in #aghh4 ,the new generation of men of genius were born2 some were growing up1 some in their cradles4 ,a few had already shown signs4 ,wordsworth and ,coleridge had just put forth their 8,lyrical ,ballads0 at ,bristol1 ,burns was famous in ,scotland1 ,charles ,lamb had written 8,rosamund ,gray10 but ,scott the 8,great ,unknown10 was as yet 8unknown0 only1 though five years older than ,turner2 ,byron had not gone to ,harrow1 and the united ages of ,keats and ,shelley did not amount to ten years2 the only living poets of deserved repute were ,cowper and ,crabbe4 ,della ,crusca in poetry1 and ,west in art1 were the bright particular stars of this gloomy period4 ,the landscape painters who were ,academicians were such men as ,sir ,william ,beechey1 ,sir ,francis ,bourgeois1 ,garvey1 ,farington1 and ,paul ,sandby1 and among the ,associates1 ,turner had no more important rival than ,philip ,reinagle4 ,girtin and ,de ,loutherbourg alone of all the then exhibitors were anything like a match for him1 and ,girtin spoilt 7till #ahja7 any chance he might otherwise have had of ,academic honours by not exhibiting pictures in oil2 he died in #ahjb1 leaving ,turner undisputed master of the field4 ,it is not greatly therefore to be wondered at that ,turner was elected ,associate in #agii1 and a full ,academician in #ahjb4 ,it was1 however1 much to the credit of the ,academy that they recognized his talent so soon and welcomed him as an honour to their body1 instead of keeping him out from jealous motives4 ,turner never forgot what he owed to the ,academy1 and whether it taught him nothing1 as ,mr4 ,ruskin says1 or a great deal1 as ,mr4 ,hamerton thinks1 does not much matter--it taught him all it knew1 and gave him ungrudgingly every honour in its gift4 ,but its claims on his gratitude did not stop here1 for it was his school in more than one branch of learning2 from its catalogues he derived the subjects of most of his pictures1 they directed him to the poems which set flame to his imagination1 and helped 7unfortunately71 with their queer spelling and grammar and truncated quotations1 to form what literary style he had2 but the greatest boon which the ,academy afforded was the opportunity of fame1 a field for that ambition which was one of the ruling powers of his nature4 ,but his tour in the ,north in #agig was before his days of ,academic rivalries and glories4 ,he was only two-and-twenty1 and seems to have been actuated by no motive but to paint as well and truly as he could the beautiful scenery through which he passed4 ,the effect upon him of the fells and vales of ,yorkshire and ,cumberland seems to have been much the same as that of ,scotland upon ,landseer2 it braced all his powers1 developed manhood of art1 turned him from a toilsome student into a triumphant master4 ,mr4 ,ruskin writes more eloquently than truly about this first visit4 8,for the first time the silence of nature around him1 her freedom sealed to him1 her glory opened to him4 ,peace at last1 and freedom at last1 and loveliness at last2 it is here then1 among the deserted vales--not among men2 those pale1 poverty-struck1 or cruel faces--that multitudinous marred humanity--are not the only things which ,god has made40 ,these are fine words1 but what a picture1 if true6 ,can this young man who has travelled through all these many counties in ,england and ,wales1 which we have already enumerated1 never have known the 8silence of nature10 or 8freedom10 or 8peace10 or 8loveliness80 ,can his experience of mankind1 of ,dr4 ,monro1 of ,girtin1 of ,mr4 ,hardwick1 of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 of ,mr4 ,henderson1 have left upon him such an impression of the failure of ,god's handiwork in making men1 that a mountain seems to him in comparison as a revelation of unexpected success8 ,if ,turner had been cooped in a garret of the foulest alley in ,london since his birth1 and had only escaped now and then from the hardest drudgery to read the works of ,mr4 ,carlyle1 this picture might be near the truth1 but we doubt even then if it could escape the charge of being over-coloured4 ,whether ,turner had any special object in this journey to the ,north in #agig is not clear1 but it is at least probable that ,girtin's success at the ,exhibition of this year with his drawings from ,yorkshire and ,scotland may have influenced him1 and that he may have already received a commission from ,dr4 ,whitaker to make drawings for the 8,parish of ,whalley10 published three years afterwards4 ,he must at all events have had much leisure from other employment in order to produce the important pictures in oil and water-colour which he exhibited the next year4 ,of these we only know ,morning on the ,coniston ,fells and ,buttermere ,lake1 now in the ,national ,gallery4 ,another1 whether water or oils we do not know1 was ,norham ,castle on the ,tweed--,summer's ,morn1 the first of several pictures of the same subject1 which was a favourite of his for a good reason4 ,many years after 7probably about #ahbd or #ahbe71 when making sketches for 8,provincial ,antiquities and ,picturesque ,scenery of ,scotland1 with descriptive illustrations by ,sir ,walter ,scott1 #ahbf10 he took off his hat to ,norham ,castle1 and ,cadell the publisher1 who was with him1 expressed surprise4 8,oh10 was the reply1 8,i made a drawing or painting of ,norham several years since4 ,it took2 and from that day to this ,i have had as much to do as my hands could execute40 ,if the ,castle was treated in the same way in this first as in the subsequent pictures of ,norham1 with the hill and ruin in the middle distance set against a brightly illumined sky1 the effect was sufficiently new and striking to make the reputation of any painter in those days4 ,it was an effect which as far as we know had never been attempted before1 this casting of the whole shadow of hill and castle straight at the spectator1 so that1 in spite of the bright reflections in the watery foreground1 he seems to be within it1 and to see through the soft shadowy air1 the solemn bulk of mound and ruin1 with their outlines blurred with light1 grand and indistinct against the burning sky4 ,illustration3 ,,norham ,,castle1 ,,on ,,the ,,tweed4 ,the pictures of #agig-ii confirmed beyond any doubt that a great artist had arisen1 who was not only a painter but a poet--a poet1 not so much of the pathos of ruin1 though so many of his pictures had ruins in them1 nor of the chequered fate of mankind1 though there is something of the 8,fallacies of ,hope0 indicated in the quotations to his pictures--as of the mystery and beauty of light1 of the power of nature1 her inexhaustible variety and energy1 her infinite complexity and fulness4 ,no one can look upon his splendid drawing of ,warkworth ,castle1 exhibited in #agii1 and now at ,south ,kensington1 with its rich glow of sunset and transparent shadow1 and its wonderful masses of clouds1 without feeling that such work as this was a revelation in those days4 ,sparing and not very pleasant in colour1 it is yet in this respect a great advance upon the former work of others and of his own2 such colour as there is penetrates the shade and is complete in harmony and tone1 while the sky has no blank space and is part of the picture1 the vivifying uniting power of the composition1 with more interest and feeling in one roll of its truly-studied masses of cloud-form than could be found in the whole of any sky of his contemporaries4 ,altogether it is difficult to over-estimate the influence of this first journey to the ,north upon ,turner's mind and art1 although he had almost perfected his skill and shown unmistakable signs of genius before4 ,but these tours had other gifts not less important1 though in a different way1 for his introductions to ,dr4 ,whitaker1 the local historian1 to ,mr4 ,basire1 the engraver1 to ,mr4 ,fawkes of ,farnley1 to ,lord ,harewood1 and to ,sir ,john ,leicester 7afterwards 7#ahbf7 ,lord de ,tabley71 through ,mr4 ,lister-,parker of ,browsholme ,hall1 his guardian1 may all be said to have resulted from this tour4 ,dr4 ,whitaker was the vicar of the parish of ,whalley1 and was writing a book upon it in the manner of those days1 giving descriptions of the local antiquities1 the churches1 the ruins1 the crosses1 and an account of the county families1 with their pedigrees and engravings of their ancestral seats4 ,not only each county1 but almost every parish had such a historian in those days1 and although the spirit of these works is archaeological rather than artistic1 engaged with genealogy rather than history1 and with pride of family and county rather than of the people and nation1 they did a great deal of valuable work4 ,dr4 ,whitaker's work is no exception to this rule1 and he was in many ways a typical writer of the kind1 for he himself1 though he 8chose0 the ,church as his profession1 was a man of property and county importance4 ,valuable as artists were in those days to the writers of these works1 they were yet considered of very secondary rank4 ,they were indeed not called 8artists0 but 8draftsmen10 and notwithstanding that ,dr4 ,whitaker recognized ,turner's genius1 he did not think it necessary in this 8,parish of ,whalley0 to mention in the preface the existence of such a person1 although the names of all the gentlemen of the county who had furnished him with drawings or information are carefully acknowledged therein2 but nothing will show better the relations between the two men than an extract from a letter from the reverend bookmaker to one of his county friends1 ,mr4 ,wilson1 of ,clitheroe1 dated ,feb4 #hth1 #ahjj4 8,i have just had a ludicrous dispute to settle between ,mr4 ,townley0 7,charles ,townley1 ,esq4 of ,townley71 8myself and ,turner1 the draftsman4 ,mr4 ,townley it seems has found out an old and very bad painting of ,gawthorpe at ,mr4 ,shuttleworth's house in ,london1 as it stood in the last century1 with all its contemporary accompaniments of clipped yews1 parterres1 c43 this he insisted would be more characteristic than ,turner's own sketch1 which he desired him to lay aside1 and copy the other4 ,turner1 abhorring the landscape and contemning the execution of it1 refused to comply1 and wrote to me very tragically on the subject4 ,next arrived a letter from ,mr4 ,townley1 recommending it to me to allow ,turner to take his own way1 but while he wrote1 his mind 7which is not unfrequent7 veered about1 and he concluded with desiring me to urge ,turner to the performance of his requisition1 as from myself4 ,i have1 however1 attempted something of a compromise1 which ,i fear will not succeed1 as ,turner has all the irritability of youthful genius40#ai ,the 8compromise0 was handing over the task of drawing from the objectionable picture to ,mr4 ,j4 ,basire the engraver4 ,we should like to see ,turner's 8tragical0 letter1 and also his rejected drawing2 we should also like to have seen ,dr4 ,whitaker's face if he had been told that not many years after a book would have been published of drawings by ,turner1 the draftsman1 with 8descriptions by the ,rev4 ,dr4 ,whitaker40 ,of ,mr4 ,fawkes1 of whose hall at ,farnley ,turner made a drawing for the 8,parish of ,whalley10 but with whom he is said by ,thornbury to have become acquainted about #ahjb1 it may be said that he was one of ,turner's longest and staunchest friends4 ,the number of drawings 7still at ,farnley7 which he made when visiting ,mr4 ,fawkes between #ahjc and #ahbj 7including as they do studies of birds shot while he was there1 of the outhouses1 porches1 and gateways on the property1 of the old places in the vicinity1 and of the rooms in ,farnley ,hall7 attest the frequency of his visits and his affection for the place and its occupants1 while the splendid series of drawings in ,england1 ,switzerland1 ,italy1 and on the ,rhine1 and the few precious oil pictures purchased by ,mr4 ,fawkes1 show him to have been not only a true friend1 but a warm and sympathizing admirer of his genius4 ,he indeed was a friend such as few are permitted to know--one of a goodly number who in ,turner's youth and manhood should have made the world to him specially pleasant and sociable1 frank and healthy4 ,if he could not or would not have it so1 it was not from insensibility1 for his feeling was deep and his heart was sound4 8,he could not make up his mind to visit ,farnley after his old friend's death10 and he could not speak of the shore of the ,wharfe 7on which ,farnley ,hall looks down7 8but his voice faltered40 ,dayes wrote of him in #ahjd1 8,this man must be loved for his works1 for his person is not striking1 nor his conversation brilliant40 ,at ,farnley1 as at ,mr4 ,wells' cottage1 ,turner was made at home1 but that he did not escape good-humoured ridicule even at ,farnley is plain from a caricature by ,mr4 ,fawkes1 8which is thought by old friends to be very like4 ,it shows us a little ,jewish-nosed man in an ill-cut brown tail coat1 striped waistcoat1 and enormous frilled shirt1 with feet and hands notably small1 sketching on a small piece of paper1 held down almost level with his waist40#bj ,it is evident that at this time1 in spite of his clear little blue eyes1 and his small hands and feet1 his appearance was not one likely to prepossess women1 or to inspire consideration among men1 and that one of the ills from which his painting room afforded a refuge may have often been a wounded vanity4 ,there can be nothing more constantly galling to a sensitive man of genius than to feel that his appearance does not inspire the respect he feels due to him4 ,if he has eloquence sufficient to command attention1 this will not matter so much2 but if he has not even that 7and ,turner had not71 his natural refuge is solitude1 his one absorbing occupation is his art1 his only worldly ambition is to show what is in him1 and to compel respect to his genius through his works4 ,from the time that ,turner became an ,associate his struggles1 if he can ever be said to have had any1 were over1 and many changes took place in his life and art4 ,he ceased almost entirely from making topographical drawings for the engravers1 limiting his efforts to a heading to the 8,oxford ,almanack10 and a few drawings for 8,britannia ,depicta10 8,mawman's ,tour10 and some other books1 until the commencement of the 8,southern ,coast0 in #ahad4 ,he had in effect emancipated himself from 8hackwork10 and could turn his attention to more congenial and ambitious labour4 ,the 8draftsman0 had become the artist1 and he showed the improvement in his position by moving from ,hand ,court1 ,maiden ,lane1 to #fd1 ,harley ,street4 ,in future his exhibited pictures show very few 8castles0 or 8abbeys10 unless they are the seats of his distinguished patrons1 ,mr4 ,beckford of ,fonthill 7for whom in #agii he painted several views of that ill-fated tower1 which might have formed a subject for a canto of ,turner's 8,fallacies of ,hope071 ,sir ,j4 ,l4 ,leicester1 and others4 ,his other castles1 ,carnarvon1 #ahjj1 ,pembroke1 #ahja and #ahjf1 ,st4 ,donat's1 #ahja1 and ,kilchurn1 #ahjb1 were all probably compositions in which local fidelity was cared for little in comparison with effects of light and pictorial beauty4 ,how completely he disregarded local fact in the case of ,kilchurn has been very completely shown by ,mr4 ,hamerton1 and ,mr4 ,ruskin says1 8,observe generally1 ,turner never1 after this time1 #ahjj1 drew from nature without composing4 ,his lightest pencil sketch was the plan of a picture1 his completest study on the spot a part of one40 ,of this period1 #ahjj-ahaj1 ,mr4 ,ruskin says1 8,his manner is stern1 reserved1 quiet1 grave in colour1 forceful in hand4 ,his mind tranquil2 fixed in physical study1 on mountain subject2 in moral study1 on the ,mythology of ,homer1 and the ,law of the ,old ,testament40 ,we wish he had given his reasons for this last astonishing statement4 ,for those who only know the working of ,turner's mind through his pictures1 it is bewildering in the extreme1 for in these there is no trace that he ever at any time studied the ,law of the ,old ,testament1 and the only classical pictures of this period1 including the plates in the 8,liber10 were ,jason and ,narcissus and ,echo4 ,if we include the pictures of #ahaa1 we get one ,homeric subject1 ,chryses1 but that has nothing to do with mythology4 ,the evidence of ,turner's pictures shows little tranquillity of mind during this period1 but1 on the contrary1 all the restlessness of unsatisfied ambition4 ,as he had already pitted himself against1 and beaten all the water-colourists1 he now commenced a course of rivalry against all the oil painters past and present1 who came anywhere within the reach of his art1 which he endeavoured to extend far beyond landscape limits4 ,his first tilt was probably against ,de ,loutherbourg in #agii with his ,battle of the ,nile1 at ten o'clock1 when the l',orient blew up1 from the station of the gunboats between the battery and ,castle of ,aboukir2 and his ,fifth ,plague of ,egypt 7#ahjj71 his ,army of the ,medes destroyed in the ,desert by a ,whirlwind1 and ,the ,tenth plague of gypt 7#ahjb71 probably owed more to ,de ,loutherbourg's grand but theatrical pictures and ,eidophusicon1 than to any meditation on the 8,law of the ,old ,testament40#ba ,of ,wilson1 though dead1 and neglected even when alive1 he continued in active rivalry as late as #ahbb1 when he proposed to ,mr4 ,j4 ,robinson1 of the firm of ,hurst and ,robinson1 to have four of his pictures 7three of which were to be painted expressly for the venture7 engraved in rivalry with ,wilson and ,woollett4 8,whether we can in the present day10 he writes1 8contend with such powerful antagonists as ,wilson and ,woollett would be at least tried by size1 security against risk1 and some remuneration for the time of painting4 ,the pictures of ultimate sale ,i shall be content with2 to succeed would perhaps form another epoch in the ,english school2 and if we fall1 we fall by contending with giant strength40 ,it is difficult to make out the meaning of even this short extract from this illiterate composition1 but it is quite plain that the open rivalry with ,wilson1 which commenced about #ahjj1 had not ceased in #ahbb4 ,but he did not confine his rivalries to ,english painters1 or to the field of landscape art4 ,his long rivalry with ,claude commenced with the 8,liber ,studiorum0 in #ahjg1 that with ,vandevelde earlier4 ,his famous ,shipwreck 7painted #ahje7 now in the ,national ,gallery1 his perhaps finer ,wreck of the ,minotaur1 painted for ,lord ,yarborough1 and his ,fishing ,boats in a ,squall1 painted for the ,marquis of ,stafford1 and now in the ,ellesmere ,gallery1 besides a fine sea-piece1 painted for the ,earl of ,egremont1 are examples of the latter4 ,the ,ellesmere picture was painted in direct rivalry with one of ,vandevelde's on the same subject1 and both hang together in the ,ellesmere ,gallery4 ,of them ,john ,burnet wrote3-- 8,the figures 7in the ,vandevelde7 are made out and coloured without reference to the situation they are in2 the sea is beautifully painted1 and the foamy tops of the waves blown off by the wind with great observation of nature2 nevertheless1 the whole work looks little and defined compared with its great competitor4 ,turner's boat is advancing towards the spectator with all sails set1 and a similarity in both pictures is that the sails are prevented from being too cutting and harsh from their melting into and being softened by other sails of a similar shape and colour4 ,a small boat is brought in contact in ,turner's1 stowing away fish1 which forms the principal light1 if it may be so called1 for there is no strong light in the picture2 the lights are of a subdued grey tone even in the yeasty waves2 the shape of the mass of light on the water is broad1 and of a beautiful form2 in ,vandervelde's 7sic7 picture it is spotty and devoid of union with the vessel4 ,in ,turner we see an obscure outlined form in everything1 for though the warm tints of the masses of clouds serve to break down and diffuse the colour of the sails1 their form is disturbed by the handling of his brush4 ,in comparing the two pictures as works of art1 ,vandervelde's must have the preference as far as priority of composition is concerned2 but ,turner has had the boldness to tell the same story1 clothing it with all the grandeur and sublimity of natural representation4 ,the light and shade is very excellent2 the mass of dark sky1 brought in contact with the sail of the advancing boat1 is broad in the extreme40 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,shipwreck4 ,of his other rivalries at this period1 those with the ,poussins and ,titian are the most notable4 ,the one produced the famous1 and1 in spite of its poorness of colour and conventionality1 the magnificent1 ,goddess of ,discord choosing the ,apple of ,contention in the ,garden of ,hesperides1 exhibited at the ,british ,institution in #ahjf1 and now in the ,national ,gallery2 the other1 the ,venus and ,adonis1 still more wonderful by reason of the beauty of its colour1 its composition1 and the audacity of the attempt4 ,this was bought by ,mr4 ,munro of ,novar1 and was lately sold at ,christie's1 on the dispersion of the ,novar collection1 for #a1idb4 ,it is1 as far as we know1 the only picture in which he attempted with success to draw the human form on a large scale1 and is certainly one of the best efforts of the ,english school to rival the 8old masters20 the figures1 the dogs1 and the glorious vine-clad bower in which they are set are all worthy of the subject1 and make a picture which reminds one of ,titian1 ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 and ,etty in about equal proportions4 ,it is strange that the great sea-pieces we have mentioned were not exhibited 7except perhaps that at ,petworth71 but the occupation of his time by these magnificent works of emulation accounts for his doing so little for the engravers in these years1 for they were all probably1 except the ,wreck of the ,minotaur1 painted before #ahjg1 when he turned his attention to his greatest1 and perhaps most successful work of the kind1 the 8,liber ,studiorum40 ,and here we may remark1 that emulation with ,turner1 though it may have been a mark of jealousy1 was always a token of respect4 ,feelings crossed each other in ,turner's mind as colours did in his works2 it is often difficult to know whether his feeling is to be called noble or base1 and the same complexity may be noticed in his 8artistic0 motives4 ,when imitating other masters he brought his knowledge of nature to bear strongly on his work to make it more natural2 when painting a natural scene1 he employed all his traditional study to make it more 8artistic40 ,by this time1 however1 he had learnt nearly all that was to be learnt from art1 ancient or modern1 in the landscape way1 but it was different with nature4 ,that was a book which he could not exhaust1 though he was never tired of turning over fresh pages4 ,it was almost his only book1 and he began a new chapter about #ahja or #ahjb1 when he made his first tour on the ,continent4 ,previous to this he must have paid a visit to ,scotland1 for the ,exhibition of #ahjb contained three ,scotch views1 one of which was the ,kilchurn already mentioned4 ,in #ahjc he exhibited no less than six foreign subjects1 of which one was the ,calais ,pier1 now in the ,national ,gallery1 another the ,festival upon the opening of the ,vintage of ,macon1 in the possession of ,lord ,yarborough2 the others were ,bonneville1 ,savoy1 with ,mont ,blanc2 ,chateaux de ,michael1 ,bonneville1 ,savoy2 ,st4 ,hugh denouncing vengeance on the ,shepherd of ,courmayeur in the ,valley of d',aoust2 and ,glacier and ,source of the ,arvron going up to the ,mer de ,glace1 in the ,valley of the ,chamouni4#bb ,after this burst of foreign subjects he did not exhibit another scene from abroad for twelve years1 except the ,fall of the ,rhine at ,schaffhausen 7#ahjf71 and content this time with simpler1 safer1 ,english1 a ,view of the ,castle of ,st4 ,michael1 near ,bonneville1 ,savoy 7#ahab74 ,during the next few years the most important picture1 and one of the most beautiful he ever painted1 was the famous ,sun ,rising through vapour3 ,fishermen cleaning and selling ,fish1 exchanged with ,sir ,j4 ,f4 ,leicester for ,the ,shipwreck1 and now in the ,national ,gallery1 together with ,the ,shipwreck and ,spithead3 ,boat's ,crew recovering an ,anchor1 another fine picture of the ,vandevelde class4 ,in all these years1 during which he kept up this constant rivalry with so many artists1 living and dead--and we have not exhausted the list of them--he was continuing his unresting severe study of nature4 ,for many more years this was to continue1 this double artistic life1 the strife for fame by grand pictures1 of which emulation was the motive1 the patient development of his knowledge and power by the close study of nature4 ,few who watched his pictures from year to year could have guessed what a store of beautiful studies of the ,alps1 about ,chamouni1 ,grenoble1 and the ,grande ,chartreuse he had lying in his portfolios2 few could imagine that with materials for landscapes of a truthfulness and an original power never before known1 he should prefer to paint pictures in rivalry with the fames of dead men4 ,possibly he thought that it was the nearest way to fame to show the public that he could beat ,vandevelde1 ,poussin1 and the rest of them on their own ground2 possibly he may have been diffident of his power to dispense with their aid in composition4 ,however this may have been1 he chose to ground his fame so4 ,even in his 8,liber10 he in three years gave only three foreign subjects out of twenty plates3 ,basle1 ,mount ,st4 ,gothard1 and the ,lake of ,thun4 ,illustration3 decorative bar ,,chapter ,v4 ,,the ,,liber ,,studiorum--,,his ,,poetry ,,and ,,dragons4 ,in #ahjg ,turner commenced his most serious rivalry1 8,the ,liber ,studiorum10 a rivalry which not only exceeded in force but differed in quality from his others4 ,previously he had pitted his skill only against that of the artist rivalled1 adopting the style of his rival1 but in these engravings he pitted not only his skill1 but also his style and range of art against ,claude's4 ,there are indeed only a few of the 8,liber0 prints which are in ,claude's style1 and most of the best are in his own4 ,lovely as are ,woman ,playing ,tambourine1 and ,hindoo ,devotions1 they seem to us far lower in value than ,mount ,st4 ,gothard and ,hind ,head ,hill4 ,there is the usual mixture of feeling in the motives with which ,turner undertook this work1 the same dependence on others for the starting impulse which we see throughout his art-life1 the same originality1 industry1 and confusion of thought in carrying out his design4 ,the idea of the 8,liber0 did not originate with him1 but with his friend ,mr4 ,w4 ,f4 ,wells4 ,the idea was noble in so far as it attempted to extend the bounds of landscape art beyond previous limits1 to break down the ,claude worship which blinded the eyes of the public to the merit that existed in contemporary work1 and prevented them1 and artists also1 from looking to nature as the source of landscape art4 ,it is scarcely too much to say that in those days ,claude stood between nature and the artist1 and that he was as much the standard of landscape art as ,pheidias of sculpture4 ,to try to clear away this barrier of progress1 as ,hogarth had striven years before to abolish the 8black masters10 was no ignoble effort1 and it was done in a nobler spirit than that of ,hogarth1 for he did not attempt to depreciate his rival4 ,yet the nobility of the attempt was not unmixed1 for if he did not disparage ,claude1 he attempted to make himself famous at ,claude's expense4 ,he did not indeed say1 as ,hogarth would have done1 8,claude is bad1 ,i am good20 but he said1 8,claude is good1 but ,i am better40 ,his own experience even from very early days should have told him that1 despite the cant of connoisseurs and the strength of old traditions1 no purely original work of his had passed unnoticed1 and that the truest and noblest way of educating the public taste was by following the bent of his original genius1 and leaving the public to draw their own comparisons4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,devil',s ,,bridge4 ,from the 8,liber ,studiorum40 ,mr4 ,wells's daughter states that not only did the 8,liber ,studiorum0 entirely owe its existence to her father's persuasion1 but the divisions into 8,pastoral10 8,elegant ,pastoral10 8,marine10 c41 were also suggested by him4 ,turner determined to print and publish and sell the 8,liber0 himself1 but to employ an engraver4 ,his first choice fell on 8,mr4 ,f4 ,c4 ,lewis1 the best aquatint engraver of the day1 who at the very time was at work on facsimiles of ,claude's drawings40#bc ,with him he soon quarrelled4 ,the terms were1 that ,turner was to etch and ,lewis to aquatint at five guineas a plate4 ,the first plate1 ,bridge and ,goats1 was finished and accepted by ,turner1 though not published till ,april1 #ahab2 but the second plate ,turner gave ,lewis the option of etching as well as aquatinting1 and he etched it accordingly1 and sent a proof to ,turner1 raising his charge from five guineas to eight1 in consideration of the extra work4 ,turner praised it1 but declined to have the plate engraved1 on the ground that ,lewis had raised his charges4 ,this ended ,mr4 ,lewis's connection with the 8,liber10 and ,turner next employed ,mr4 ,charles ,turner1 the mezzotint engraver1 but he had to pay him eight guineas a plate4 ,charles ,turner agreed to engrave fifty plates at this price1 but after he had finished twenty1 he wished to raise his charge to ten guineas1 which led to a quarrel4 ,with reference to these quarrels of ,turner with his engravers1 ,mr4 ,thornbury says1 8,the painter who had never had quarter given to him when he was struggling1 now in his turn1 ,i grieve to say1 gave no quarter10 and 8inflexibly exacting as he was1 ,turner could not understand how an engraver who had contracted to do fifty engravings should try to get off his bargain at the twenty-first40 ,this1 like most of ,thornbury's statements1 is utterly untrustworthy4 ,there is no evidence to show that a hard bargain was ever driven with him when he was struggling1 there is no word of any dispute with engravers till he began to employ them himself1 and as to his 8not being able to understand0 how any man should endeavour to obtain more than the price contracted for1 it was exactly what he tried to do himself1 when afterwards employed by ,cooke4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,alps ,,at ,,daybreak4 ,from ,rogers's 8,poems40 ,the fact is that in all business arrangements ,turner's worse nature1 the mean1 grasping spirit of the little tradesman1 was brought into prominence4 ,in the case of ,lewis he was evidently in the wrong1 in the case of ,charles ,turner he was only hard2 but in all business transactions he was as a rule ungenerous1 and sometimes dishonest4 ,his action towards the public with regard to the 8,liber0 can be called by no other name4 ,his prices at first were fifteen shillings for prints1 and twenty-five shillings for proofs4 ,when the plates got worn 7and mezzotint plates are subject to rapid deterioration in the light parts71 ,turner used to alter them1 sometimes changing the effect greatly1 as in the ,mer de ,glace1 where he transformed the smooth1 snow-covered glacier into spiky ridges of ice1 or in the sacus and ,hesperie1 where the effect of sunbeams through the wood was effaced1 and the direction in which the head of ,hesperie was looking was changed1 and the face afterwards concealed4 ,the changes were not always for the worse2 the very wear of the plate in some cases1 as in that of the ,calm1 improved the effect1 and what we have called his confusion of thought1 and what ,thornbury has called his 8distorted logic10 may have led him to believe that he was not wrong in selling as he did these worn and altered plates as proofs4 ,a kind casuistry may lend us a word less disagreeable than dishonest to such transactions1 but when we know that he habitually from the first made no distinction between proofs and prints--that he sold the same things under different names at different prices--every plea breaks down1 and we are forced to the conclusion that when he thought he could cheat safely 8the pack of geese10#bd as he thought the public1 he did so4 ,nor can we acquit ,turner of unfairness in issuing the 8,liber ,studiorum0 in competition with the ,french painter's 8,liber ,veritatis10 a book well-known to the public and to him1 as the third edition of its plates1 engraved by ,earlom1 was just issued1 when the 8,liber ,studiorum0 was begun4 ,he must have known what the public did not probably know--that ,claude's rough sketches were mere memoranda of the effects of his pictures taken by him to identify them1 and never meant for publication2 whereas his were carefully-finished compositions1 into which he threw his whole power4 ,not only was the publication unfair as regards ,claude1 but it was misleading to the public as regards himself4 ,the title1 8,liber ,studiorum10 applies only to some of the prints4 ,a few of the poorer plates1 especially the architectural ones1 and such simple designs as the ,hedging and ,ditching1 might properly perhaps have been called studies1 but even upon these he bestowed a care and a finish that would entitle them to be called pictures1 monochrome as they are4 ,the want of a well-considered plan1 and the capricious way in which they were published1 contributed to the ill-success of the work2 and though we are accustomed to look upon its failure as a severe judgment on the taste of the time1 we are not at all sure that it would have succeeded if published in the present day1 unless ,mr4 ,ruskin had written the advertisement4 8,the meaning of the entire book10 according to that eloquent writer1 8was symbolized in the frontispiece1#be which he engraved with his own hand3#bf ,tyre at ,sunset1 with the ,rape of ,europa1 indicating the symbolism of the decay of ,europe by that of ,tyre1 its beauty passing away into terror and judgment 7,europa being the ,mother of ,minos and ,rhadamanthus740 ,turner's advertisement thus describes the intention of the work3-- 8,intended as an illustration of ,landscape ,composition1 classed as follows3 ,historical1 ,mountainous1 ,pastoral1 ,marine1 and ,architectural40 ,we think ,turner's description the more correct1 and that the intention of his frontispiece was to give all the 8classes0 in one composition1 and we are extremely doubtful whether ,turner knew or cared anything about either ,minos or ,rhadamanthus4 ,the most obvious intention of the work was to show his own power1 and there never was1 and perhaps never will be again1 such an exhibition of genius in the same direction4 ,no rhetoric can say for it as much as it says for itself in those ninety plates1 twenty of which were never published4 ,if he did not exhaust art or nature1 he may be fairly said to have exhausted all that was then known of landscape art1 and to have gone further than any one else in the interpretation of nature4 ,notwithstanding1 the merit of the plates is very unequal1 some1 as ,solway ,moss and the ,little ,devil's ,bridge1 being more valuable as works of art than many of his large pictures2 others1 especially the architectural subjects1 the ,interior of a ,church1 and ,pembury ,mill1 being almost devoid of interest4 ,as to any one thought running through the series1 we can see none1 except desire to show the whole range of his power2 and as to sentiment1 it seems to us to be thoroughly impersonal1 impartial1 and artistic4 ,he turns on the pastoral or historical stop as easily as if he were playing the organ1 and his only concern with his figures is that they shall perform their parts adequately1 which is as much as some of them do4 ,we have spoken of the book as an attack on ,claude1 and of the 8intention0 of the work1 but we are not sure that we are not using too definite ideas to express the variety of impulses in ,turner's mind that tended to the commencement of the 8,liber40 ,we have seen that the first notion of it1 and its divisions1 were suggested by ,mr4 ,wells1 and the plates are nothing more nor less than a selection from his sketches and pictures1 arranged under these heads4 ,his early topographical drawings and studies in ,england provided him with the architectural and pastoral subjects1 his studies of ,claude and the ,poussins and ,wilson1 with the elegant pastoral1 ,vandevelde and nature with the marine1 and his one or two visits to the ,continent with the mountainous4 ,the frontispiece1 the first attempt to give a coherent signification to the whole1 was not published till #ahab1 and it was not till #ahaf that the advertisement to which we have called attention appeared when1 after four years' intermission1 the issue of the 8,liber0 was recommenced2 even then it is only described as 8an illustration of ,landscape ,composition20 and it is quite probable that the desire to make money1 to display his art1 to rival ,claude1 and to educate the public1 contributed to the production of the work1 without any very vivid consciousness on his part as to his motives of action4 ,it has1 like all ,turner's work1 the characteristics of a gradual growth rather than of the carrying out of a well-defined conception4 ,illustration3 ,,falls ,,in ,,valombr4 ,from ,rogers's 8,jacqueline40 ,there is one way in which the title of the book may be considered as appropriate1 and that is to take 8studia0 to mean 8studies10 in the usual general sense of the word1 for it is an index to his whole course of study 7including books and excepting colour71 down to the time of its publication4 ,with the exception of his ,venetian pictures and his later extravagances1 it may be said to be an epitome of his art without colour4 ,poets and painters may change their style1 and may develop their powers in after-life in an unexpected manner2 but after the age at which ,turner had arrived when he commenced to publish the 8,liber10 viz41 thirty-two1 there are few1 if any1 mental germs which have not at least sprouted4 ,turner1 though he never left off acquiring knowledge1 or developing his style1 is no exception to this rule1 and this makes the 8,liber0 valuable1 not only as a collection of works of art1 but as a nearly complete summary of the great artist's work and mind4 ,amongst his more obvious claims to the first place among landscape artists1 are his power of rendering atmospherical effects1 and the structure and growth of things4 ,he not only knew how a tree looked1 but he showed how it grew4 ,others may have drawn foliage with more habitual fidelity1 but none ever drew trunks and branches with such knowledge of their inner life2 if you look at the trunks in the drawing of ,hornby ,castle for instance 7which we mention because it is easily seen at the ,south ,kensington ,museum71 and compare them with any others in the same room1 the superior indication of texture of bark1 of truly varied swelling1 of consistency1 and all essential differences between living wood and other things1 cannot fail to be apparent to the least observant4 ,although the trees of the 8,liber0 are not of equal merit 7,mr4 ,ruskin says the firs are not good71 this quality may be observed in many of the plates4 ,others have drawn the appearance of clouds1 but ,turner knew how they formed4 ,others have drawn rocks1 but he could give their structure1 consistency1 and quality of surface1 with a few deft lines and a wash2 others could hide things in a mist1 but he could reveal things through mist4 ,others could make something like a rainbow1 but he1 almost alone1 and without colour1 could show it standing out1 a bow of light arrested by vapour in mid-air1 not flat upon a mountain1 or printed on a cloud4 ,if all his power over atmospheric effects and all his knowledge of structure are not contained in the 8,liber10 there is sufficient proof of them scattered through its plates to do as much justice to them as black and white will allow4 ,if we want to know the result of his studies of architecture we see it here also1 little knowledge or care of buildings for their own sakes1 but perfect sense of their value pictorially for breaking of lights and casting of shadows2 for contrast with the undefined beauty of natural forms1 and for masses in composition2 for the sentiment that ruins lend1 and for the names which they give to pictures4 ,if we seek the books from which his imagination took fire1 we have the ,bible and ,ovid1 the first of small1 the latter of great and almost solitary power4 ,jason daring the huge glittering serpent1 ,syrinx fleeing from ,pan1 ,cephalus and ,procris1 sacus and ,hesperie1 ,glaucus and ,scylla1 ,narcissus and ,echo2 if we want to know the artists he most admired and imitated1 or the places to which he had been1 we shall find easily nearly all the former1 and sufficient of the latter to show the wide range of his travel4 ,in a word1 one who has carefully studied the 8,liber0 had indeed little to learn of the range and power of ,turner's art and mind1 except his colour and his fatalism4 ,the first quotation from the 8,fallacies of ,hope10 nevertheless1 was published in the catalogue of #ahab1 as the motto of his picture of ,snowstorm--,hannibal and his ,army ,crossing the ,alps1 and it is probable that the ill-success of the 8,liber0 contributed not a little to the gloomy habit of mind which breathes through the fragments of this unfinished composition4 ,these were the lines appended to that grand picture3-- 8,craft1 treachery1 and fraud--,salassian force ,hung on the fainting rear6 then ,plunder seiz'd ,the victor and the captive--,saguntum's spoil1 ,alike became their prey2 still the chief advanc'd1 ,look'd on the sun with hope2--low1 broad1 and wan4 ,while the fierce archer of the downward year ,stains ,italy's blanch'd barrier with storms4 ,in vain each pass1 ensanguin'd deep with dead1 ,or rocky fragments1 wide destruction roll'd4 ,still on ,campania's fertile plains--he thought ,but the loud breeze sob'd1 ,capua's joys beware40 ,this is nearer to poetry than ,turner ever got again4 ,the picture is well-known1 and was suggested partly by a storm observed at ,farnley1 partly by a picture by ,j4 ,cozens1#bg of the same subject1 from which ,turner is reported to have said that he learnt more than from any other4 ,turner's love of poetry was shown from the first possible moment4 ,the first pictures to which he appended poetical mottoes were those of #agih1 but he could not have used them before1 as quotations were never published in the ,academy ,catalogue prior to that year4 ,when his first original verses were published we cannot tell1 but there is little doubt that the lines to his ,apollo and the ,python1 in the ,catalogue of #ahaa1 were of his own fabrication4 ,they are not from ,callimachus1 as asserted in the catalogue1 but a jumble of the descriptions of two of ,ovid's dragons1 the ,python1 and ,cadmus's tremendous worm1 and are just the peculiar mixture of ,ovid1 ,milton1 ,thomson1 ,pope1 and the quotations in ,royal ,academy ,catalogues1 out of which he formed his poetical style4 ,the ,turneresque style of poetry is in fact formed very much in the same way as the ,turneresque style of landscape1 but the result is not so satisfactory4 ,it required a totally different kind of brain machinery from that which ,turner possessed4 ,he may have had a good ear for the music of tones1 for he used to play the flute1 but he had none for the music of words4 ,coleridge was an instance of how distinct these two faculties are1 as he1 whose verses exceed almost all other ,english verses in beauty of sound1 could not tell one note of music from another4 ,turner lived in a world of light and colour1 and beautiful changeful indefinite forms2 his thought had visions in place of words2 his mind communed with itself in sights and symbols2 the procession of his ideas was a panorama4 ,so1 where a poet would jot down lines and thoughts1 he would print off the impressions on his mental retina2 his true poetry was drawn not written--the poetry of instant act1 not of laboured thought4 ,how sensible he himself was of the difference1 is shown in his clumsy lines3-- 8,perception1 reasoning1 action's slow ally1 ,thoughts that in the mind awakened lie-- ,kindly expand the monumental stone ,and as the 444 continue power40 ,this is ,mr4 ,thornbury's reading of part of the longest piece of poetry by ,turner yet published1 which he has printed without any care1 making greater nonsense than even ,turner ever wrote1 which is saying a great deal4 8,awakened0 for instance is probably 8unwakened10 and 8monumental stone0 is probably 8mental store0 with another word at the commencement1 the word 8power0 is possibly 8pours10 as the next line goes on1 8a steady current1 nor with headlong force10 c4 ,we quite agree with ,mr4 ,w4 ,m4 ,rossetti1 that these extracts are not made the best of1 though it is doubtful whether the result of more careful editing would be worth the trouble4 ,there is no picture which better shows the greatness of ,turner's power of pictorial imagination than the ,apollo and ,python4 ,we have said that nature was almost ,turner's only book4 ,the only written book which there is evidence that he really studied--read through1 probably1 again and again--is ,ovid's 8,metamorphoses40 ,that he was fond of poetry there is no doubt1 but the sparks that lit his imagination for nearly all his best classical compositions came from this book4 ,this is the only poem which he really illustrated1 and an edition of ,ovid1 with engravings from all the scenes which he drew from this source1 would make one of the best illustrated books in the world4 ,it would contain ,jason1 ,narcissus and ,echo1 ,mercury and ,herse1 ,apollo and ,python1 ,apuleia in search of ,apuleius 7which is really the story of ,appulus1 who was turned into a wild olive-tree1 ,apuleia being a characteristic mistake of ,turner's for ,apulia4 ,he is sometimes called 8a shepherd of ,apulia10 in notes and translations1 and ,turner evidently took the name of the country for the name of a woman71 ,apollo and the ,sibyl1 ,the ,vision of ,medea1 ,the ,golden ,bough1 ,mercury and ,argus1 ,pluto and ,proserpine1 ,glaucus and ,scylla1 ,pan and ,syrinx1 ,ulysses and ,polyphemus4 ,of all these pictures and designs we have no doubt that1 though he referred to other poets in the catalogues and got the idea of some part of the composition from other poets1 the original germs are to be found in no other book than ,ovid's 8,metamorphoses40 ,we have not exhausted the list of his debts to this poet1 for it is probable that the first ideas of his ,carthage pictures1 and all that deal with the history of neas1 came from the same source1 assisted by references to ,vergil4 ,illustration3 ,,allegory4 ,from ,rogers's 8,voyage of ,columbus40 ,of all these1 excepting the ,ulysses and ,polyphemus1 there is none greater than the ,apollo and ,python4 ,although the figure of ,apollo is not satisfactory1 it gives an adequate impression of the small size of the boy-god1 the radiating glory of his presence1 the keen enjoyment of his struggle with the monster1 and the triumph of 8mind over matter40 ,of the landscape and the dragon it is difficult to exaggerate the grandeur of the conception2 the rocks and trees convulsed with the dying struggles of the gigantic worm1 the agony of the brute himself1 expressed in the distorted jaws and the twisted tail1 the awful dark pool of blood below1 the seams in its terrible riven side1 studded with a thousand little shafts from ,apollo's bow1 and the fragments of rock flying in the air above the griffin-like head and noisome steam of breath1 make a picture without any rival of its kind in ancient or modern art4 ,it is1 as we have said1 taken from two dragons of ,ovid4 ,turner seems to have been of the same opinion about books as about nature1 and if he wanted anything to complete his picture1 went on a few pages and found it4 ,the idea of the god and his bow and arrows is taken from the account of the combat in the first book of the 8,metamorphoses10 and the idea of the huge dragon with his 8poyson-paunch10 comes from the same place2 but the ruin of the woodland1 the flying stones1 and the earth blackened with the dragon's gore1 come from the description of the combat of ,cadmus and his dragon in the third4 ,the larger stone is too huge indeed to be that which ,cadmus flung1 it has been either1 as ,mr4 ,ruskin thinks1 lashed into the air by his tail1 or1 as we think1 torn off the rock and vomited into the air2 but there is the tree1 which the 8serpent's weight0 did make to bend1 and which was 8grieved his body of the serpent's tail thus scourged for to be10 there is 8the stinking breath that goth out from his black and hellish mouth10 there is the blood which 8did die the green grass black10 an idea not in ,callimachus nor in ,ovid's description of the ,python1 but which occurs both in the lines appended to the picture and in ,ovid's description of ,cadmus's serpent4 ,if there were any doubt left as to the influence of this dragon on the picture1 there is still another piece of evidence1 viz41 something very like a javelin1 ,cadmus's weapon1 which is sticking in the dragon1 and has reappeared after being painted out1 so that it is possible that ,turner meant the hero of the picture1 in the first instance1 to be ,cadmus and not ,apollo4 ,the two great dragons of ,turner1 that which guards the ,garden of the ,hesperides1 and the ,python1 are specially interesting as the greatest efforts made by ,turner's imagination in the creation of living forms1 excepting1 perhaps1 the cloud figure of ,polyphemus4 ,they are perhaps the only monsters of the kind created by an artist's fancy1 which are credible even for a moment4 ,they will not stand analysis any more than any other painters' monsters1 but you can enjoy the pictures without being disturbed by palpable impossibilities4 ,the distance at which we see ,ladon helps the illusion2 with his fiery eyes and smoking jaws1 his spiny back and terrible tail1 no one could wish for a more probable reptile4 ,the only objection that has been made to him is that his jaws are too thin and brittle1 while ,mr4 ,buskin is extravagant in his praise4 ,it is wonderful to him-- 8,this anticipation1 by ,turner1 of the grandest reaches of recent inquiry into the form of the dragons of the old earth 444 this saurian of ,turner's is very nearly an exact counterpart of the model of the iguanodon1 now the guardian of the ,hesperian ,garden of the ,crystal ,palace1 wings only excepted1 which are1 here1 almost accurately1 those of the pterodactyle4 ,the instinctive grasp which a healthy imagination takes of possible truth1 even in its wildest flights1 was never more marvellously demonstrated40 ,mr4 ,ruskin then goes on to call attention to-- 8,the mighty articulations of his body1 rolling in great iron waves1 a cataract of coiling strength and crashing armour1 down amongst the mountain rents4 ,fancy him moving1 and the roaring of the ground under his rings2 the grinding down of the rocks by his toothed whorls2 the skeleton glacier of him in thunderous march1 and the ashes of the hills rising round him like smoke1 and encompassing him like a curtain40 ,the description1 fine as it is1 seems to us to destroy all belief in ,turner's dragon4 ,the wings of a pterodactyle would never lift the body of an iguanodon1 and ,turner's dragon could not even walk1 his comparatively puny body could never even move his miles of tail1 let alone lift them4 ,it is far better to leave him where he is2 the fact that he is at the top of that rock is sufficient evidence that he got there somehow2 how he got there1 and how he will get down again1 are questions which we had better not ask if we wish to keep our faith in him4 ,nor can anything be more confused than the notion of a 8saurian0 with 8coiling strength and crashing armour10 making the ground 8roar under his rings40 ,this might be well enough of a fabulous monster made of iron1 but quite inappropriate when applied to a saurian1 like the alligator1 for instance1 with its soft1 slow movements1 and its bony1 skin-padded1 noiseless armour4 ,the ,python will stand still less an attempt to define in words what ,turner has purposely left mysterious4 ,not even ,mr4 ,ruskin1 we fancy1 would dare to pull him out straight from amongst his rocks and trees1 and put his griffin's head and talons on to that marvellous body1 half worm1 half caterpillar4 ,but he is grand1 and believable as he is4 ,more simple than either of the other monsters is the single wave of ,jason's dragon in his den4 ,this is a mere magnified coil of a simple snake2 but its size1 its glitter1 its incompleteness1 the terrible energy of it1 its peculiar serpentine wiriness1 that elasticity combined with stiffness which is so horrible to see and to feel1 make it more awful even than the ,python4 ,we do not believe in ,turner's power to evolve even as imperfect a saurian as his ,ladon out of his imagination1 however 8healthy20 and have no doubt that he had seen the fossil remains of an ichthyosaurus4 ,we have the testimony of ,mrs4 ,wheeler that he was much interested in geology1#bh and think it more than probable that the thinness of the monster's jaws and1 we may add1 the emptiness of his eye socket are due to his drawing them from a fossil1 which his knowledge was not great enough to pad with flesh4 ,illustration3 decorative bar ,,chapter ,,vi4 ,,harley ,,street1 ,,devonshire1 ,,hammersmith1 ,,and ,,twickenham4 #ahjj ,,to #ahbj4 ,during the first ten years of this period we have very little intelligence respecting ,turner's life4 ,he moved from ,hand ,court1 ,maiden ,lane1 to #fd1 ,harley ,street1 in #agii or #ahjj1 and it is not improbable that he bought the house1 as ,no4 #fd and the house next to it in ,harley ,street1 and the house in ,queen ,anne ,street1 all belonged to him at the time of his death4 ,there was communication between the three houses at the back1 although the corner house fronting both streets did not belong to him4 ,in #ahja1 #ahjb1 #ahjc1 and #ahjd1 his address in the ,royal ,academy ,catalogue is #ge1 ,norton ,street1 ,portland ,road2 but in #ahjd it is again #fd1 ,harley ,street4 ,in #ahjhbi it is #fd1 ,harley ,street1 and ,west ,end1 ,upper ,mall1 ,hammersmith2 and this double address is given till #ahaa1 when it is ,west ,end1 ,upper ,mall1 ,hammersmith1 only4 ,in and after #ahab it is always ,queen ,anne ,street ,west1 with the addition1 from #ahad to #ahbf1 of his house at ,twickenham1 called ,solus ,lodge in #ahad1 and ,sandycombe ,lodge from #ahae to #ahbf4 ,it is remarkable that in the ,catalogue of the ,british ,institution for #ahad his address is given as ,harley ,street1 ,cavendish ,square1 showing that he had not then given up his house in this street1 and this is good evidence that it belonged to him4 ,the war which broke out with ,bonaparte in #ahjc1cj and was not finally closed till #ahae1 prevented him from pursuing his studies of ,continental scenery1 and he seems during this time to have devoted himself principally to the composition of his great rival pictures1 and the 8,liber ,studiorum10 about which we have already written3 he stayed occasionally with his friends1 ,mr4 ,fawkes at ,farnley1 where he studied the storm for ,hannibal ,crossing the ,alps1 and ,lord ,egremont at ,petworth1 where he painted ,apuleia and ,apuleius4 ,almost the only glimpse that we get of his house in ,harley ,street1 though it is very doubtful to what period it belongs1 was sent to ,mr4 ,thornbury by ,mr4 ,rose of ,jersey3-- 8,two ladies1 ,mrs4 ,r---- and ,mrs4 ,h---- once paid him a visit in ,harley ,street1 an extremely rare 7in fact1 if not the only7 occasion of such an occurrence1 for it must be known he was not fond of parties prying1 as he fancied1 into the secrets of his mnage4 ,on sending in their names1 after having ascertained that he was at home1 they were politely requested to walk in1 and were shown into a large sitting room without a fire4 ,this was in the depth of winter2 and lying about in various places were several cats without tails4 ,in a short time our talented friend made his appearance1 asking the ladies if they felt cold4 ,the youngest replied in the negative2 her companion1 more curious1 wished she had stated otherwise1 as she hoped they might have been shown into his sanctum or studio4 ,after a little conversation he offered them wine and biscuits1 which they partook of for the novelty1 such an event being almost unprecedented in his house4 ,one of the ladies bestowing some notice upon the cats1 he was induced to remark that he had seven1 and that they came from the ,isle of ,man40#ca ,whatever is the proper date of this story1 it is to be feared that he had good reason for not wishing persons to pry into the secrets of his mnage4 ,we ourselves have no wish to pry into those secrets2 but the fact that ,turner had for the greater part of his life a home of which he was ashamed1 is sufficient to explain a great deal of his want of hospitality1 his churlishness to visitors1 and his confirmed habits of secrecy and seclusion4 ,there is no doubt that he habitually lived with a mistress4 ,hannah ,danby1 who entered his service1 a girl of sixteen1 in the year #ahja1 and was his housekeeper in ,queen ,anne ,street at his death1 is generally considered to have been one2 and ,sophia ,caroline ,booth1 with whom he spent his last years in an obscure lodging in ,chelsea1 another4 ,there are many who have lived more immoral lives1 and have done more harm to others by their immorality2 but he chose a kind of illegal connection which was particularly destructive to himself4 ,he made his home the scene of his irregularities1 and1 by entering into ultimate relations with uneducated women1 cut himself off from healthy social influences which would have given daily employment to his naturally warm heart1 and prevented him from growing into a selfish1 solitary man4 ,not to be able to enjoy habitually the society of pure educated women1 not to be able to welcome your friend to your hearth1 could not have been good for a man's character1 or his art1 or his intellect4 ,his uninterrupted privacy possibly enabled him to produce more1 and to develop his genius farther in one direction2 but we could have well spared many of his pictures for a few works graced with a wider culture and a healthier sentiment4 ,he could paint1 and paint1 perhaps1 better for his isolation-- 8,the light that never was on sea or land1 ,the consecration and the ,poet's dream40 ,but it would have been better for him1 and1 we think1 for his art also1 if he could have said3-- 8,farewell1 farewell1 the heart that lives alone ,housed in a dream1 at distance from the kind6 ,such happiness1 wherever it be known1 ,is to be pitied2 for 'tis surely blind40#cb ,it was not from any scorn of the conventions of society that he disregarded them1 for there is no trace of any feeling of this sort in his pictures or his reported conversations1 and in his will he required that the 8,poor and ,decayed ,male ,artists10 for whom he intended to found a charitable institution 78,turner's ,gift071 should be 8of lawful issue40 ,one reason why he never married may have been his shyness and consciousness of his want of address and personal attraction4 ,mr4 ,cyrus ,redding1 from whom we have one of the brightest and best glimpses of ,turner as a man1 says3-- 8,he was aware that he could not hope to gain credit in the world out of his profession4 ,i believe that his own ordinary person was1 in his clear-mindedness1 somewhat considered in estimating his career in life4 ,he was once at a party where there were several beautiful women4 ,one of them struck him much with her charms and captivating appearance2 and he said to a friend1 in a moment of unguarded admiration1 #8,if she would marry me1 ,i would give her a hundred thousand4'0 ,this1 and the increasing absorption in his art of all of himself that could be so absorbed2 his desire to economize both his time and his money2 his innate hatred of interference with his liberty2 his aversion from undertaking any obligation1 the consequences of which he could not calculate--all tended to keep him from matrimony1 and to make him content with the most unromantic amours4 ,that he in #ahaa or thereabouts could be hospitable and a good companion away from home1 is shown by ,mr4 ,redding in his pleasant volume1 from which we have just quoted4 ,he met ,turner on what appears to have been his first visit to the county to which his family belonged--,devonshire4 ,he met him first1 ,mr4 ,redding thinks1 at the house of ,mr4 ,collier 7the father of ,sir ,robert ,collier71 an eminent merchant of ,plymouth1 and accompanied him on many excursions4 ,on one of these ,turner actually gave a picnic 8in excellent taste0 at a seat on the summit of the hill1 overlooking the ,sound and ,cawsand ,bay4 8,cold meats1 shell fish1 and good wines were provided on that delightful and unrivalled spot4 ,our host was agreeable1 but terse1 blunt1 and almost epigrammatic at times4 ,never given to waste his words1 nor remarkably choice in their arrangement1 they were always in their right place1 and admirably effective40#cc ,this last sentence sounds somewhat paradoxical1 but for that reason is probably all the more accurately descriptive of ,turner's art in words4 ,further on1 when defending the great painter1 we get a portrait of him as a 8plain figure0 with 8somewhat bandy legs10 and 8dingy complexion40 ,on another excursion1 ,redding spent a night at a small country inn with ,turner1 about three miles from ,tavistock1 as the artist had a great desire to see the country round at sunrise4 ,the rest of the party1 ,mr4 ,collier and two friends1 who had spent the day with them on the shores of the ,tamar with a scanty supply of provisions1 preferred to pass the night at ,tavistock4 8,turner was content with bread and cheese and beer1 tolerably good1 for dinner and supper in one4 ,i contrived to feast somewhat less simply on bacon and eggs1 through an afterthought inspiration4 ,in the little sanded room we conversed by the light of an attenuated candle1 and some aid from the moon1 until nearly midnight1 when ,turner laid his head upon the table1 and was soon sound asleep4 ,i placed two or three chairs in a line1 and followed his example at full recumbency4 ,in this way three or four hours' rest were 7sic7 obtained1 and we were both fresh enough to go out1 as soon as the sun was up1 to explore the scenery in the neighbourhood1 and get a humble breakfast1 before our friends rejoined us from ,tavistock4 ,it was in that early morning ,turner made a sketch of the picture 7,crossing the ,brook7to which ,i have alluded1 and which he invited me to his gallery to see40 ,another of these excursions was to ,burr or ,borough ,island1 in ,bigbury ,bay1 8,to eat hot lobsters fresh from the sea40 8,the morning was squally1 and the sea rolled boisterously into the ,sound4 ,as we ran out1 the sea continued to rise1 and off ,stake's point became stormy4 ,our ,dutch boat rode bravely over the furrows1 which in that low part of the ,channel roll grandly in unbroken ridges from the ,atlantic40 ,illustration3 ,,ivy ,,bridge4 ,water-colour in ,national ,gallery4 ,two of the party were ill2 one1 an officer in the army1 wanted to throw himself overboard1 and they 8were obliged to keep him down among the rusty iron ballast1 with a spar across him40 8,turner was all the while quiet1 watching the troubled scene1 and it was not unworthy his notice4 ,the island1 the solitary hut upon it1 the bay in the bight of which it lay1 and the long gloomy ,bolt ,head to sea-ward1 against which the waves broke with fury1 seemed to absorb the entire notice of the artist1 who scarcely spoke a syllable4 ,while the fish were getting ready1 ,turner mounted nearly to the highest point of the island rock1 and seemed writing rather than drawing4 ,the wind was almost too violent for either purpose2 what he particularly noted he did not say40 ,these reminiscences of ,mr4 ,redding contain the most graphic picture of ,turner we possess4 ,his carelessness of comfort1 his devotion to his art1 his power of continuous observation in despite of tumult and discomfort1 his love of the sun and the sea1 his habit of sketching from a high point of view1 his ability to take 8pictorial memoranda0 in a violent wind1 are all striking and essential peculiarities4 ,it is interesting to learn also from ,mr4 ,redding1 that 8early in the morning before the rest were up1 ,turner and myself walked to ,dodbrooke1 hard by the town1 to see the house that had belonged to ,dr4 ,walcot 7sic71 ,peter ,pindar1 and where he was born4 ,walcot sold it1 and there had been a house erected there since2 of this the artist took a sketch40 ,turner probably appreciated ,peter's 8,advice to ,landscape ,painters40 ,one piece of ,turner's conversation is also worthy of record1 if only on account of its rarity4 8,he was looking at a seventy-four gun ship1 which lay in the shadow under ,saltash4 ,the ship seemed one dark mass4 8#8,i told you that would be the effect1' said ,turner1 referring to some previous conversation4 #8,now1 as you observe1 it is all shade4' 8#8,yes1 ,i perceive it2 and yet the ports are there4' 8#8,we can only take what is visible--no matter what may be there4 ,there are people in the ship2 we don't see them through the planks4'0 ,this reads like a speech of ,dr4 ,johnson4 ,we have another account of this same visit to ,devonshire from ,sir ,charles ,eastlake1 which bears testimony to the hospitality which he received4 ,miss ,pearce1 an aunt of ,sir ,charles1 appears to have been his hostess1 and her cottage at ,calstock the centre of his excursions4 ,a landscape painter1 ,mr4 ,ambrose ,johns1 of great merit1 according to ,sir ,charles1 fitted up a small portable painting box1 which was of much use to ,turner in affording him ready appliances for sketching in oil4 8,turner seemed pleased when the rapidity with which these sketches were done was talked of2 for departing from his habitual reserve in the instance of his pencil sketches1 he made no difficulty in showing them4 ,on one occasion1 when1 on his return after a sketching ramble to a country residence belonging to my father1 near ,plympton1 the day's work was shown1 he himself remarked that one of the sketches 7and perhaps the best7 was done in less than half an hour4444 ,on my inquiring what had become of these sketches1 ,turner replied that they were worthless1 in consequence1 as he supposed1 of some defects in the preparation of the paper2 all the grey tints1 he observed1 had nearly disappeared4 ,although ,i did not implicitly rely on that statement1 ,i do not remember to have seen any of them afterwards40#cd ,mr4 ,johns's devotion was not rewarded till long afterwards1 when the great painter sent him a small oil sketch in a letter4 ,mr4 ,redding obtained at the time a rough sketch1 and these seem to have been the only returns he made for the kindness that was shown to him at ,plymouth1 though many years afterwards he spoke to ,mr4 ,redding 8of the reception he met with on this tour1 in a strain that exhibited his possession of a mind not unsusceptible or forgetful of kindness40 ,the date of this tour is given by ,mr4 ,redding as probably #ahaa1 and by ,eastlake #ahac or #ahad4 ,the principal pictorial results of it were ,crossing the ,brook 7exhibited in #ahae71 and various drawings for ,cooke's ,southern ,coast1 which commenced in #ahad4 ,it seems probable that his engagement on this work determined his visit to ,cornwall and ,devonshire1 but this is uncertain1 as is also whether he paid more than one visit to the locality4 ,this tour is also interesting from its being the only occasion on which ,turner is known to have visited his kinsfolk4 ,we are enabled to state on the authority of one of his family that he went to ,barnstaple and called upon his relations there1 and a gentleman1 late of the ,chancery ,bar1 has kindly supplied us with the following extract of a memorandum made by him in #ahec1 from facts sworn to in suits instituted to administer ,turner's estate4 8,price ,turner1 an uncle of the painter's1 having some idea of educating his son1 ,thomas ,price ,turner 7now 7#ahec7 living at ,north ,street1 in the parish of ,st4 ,kerrian1 ,exeter1 ,professor of ,music7 as a painter1 ,t4 ,p4 ,t4 made1 at the request of ,william ,turner1 the great artist's father1 two drawings as specimens of his ability1 one a view of the city of ,exeter1 taken from the south side1 and the other a view of ,rougemont ,castle1 and sent them by ,wm4 ,turner to his son4 ,shortly after1 he 7,t4 ,p4 ,t47 received a number of water colour drawings1 sketches1 c4 ,some of these were afterwards sent for again1 one of which1 a water colour view of ,redcliffe ,church1 ,bristol1 ,thomas ,price ,turner previously copied1 which copy1 together with the residue of ,turner's drawings1 are still in his cousin's possession4 8,j4 ,m4 ,w4 ,turner called at ,price ,turner's house at ,exeter about forty years ago 7about #ahac71 and1 saying that he called at his father's request1 had a conversation with ,price ,turner and his son and daughter4 ,thomas ,price ,turner went to ,london in #ahcd to attend the ,royal ,musical ,festival in commemoration of ,handel1 in which he was engaged as a chorus singer4 ,he called three times on his cousin1 and the third time saw him1 but though he 7,j4 ,m4 ,w4 ,t47 immediately recognized him1 the painter gave him a cool reception1 never so much as asking him to sit down40 ,it is probable that ,turner's father removed with him to ,harley ,street in #ahjj4 ,the powder tax of #agie is said to have destroyed his trade1 and he lived with his son till he died in #ahcj4 ,he used to strain his son's canvasses and varnish his pictures1 8which made ,turner say that his father began and finished his pictures for him40 ,as early as #ahji1 ,turner 8was in the habit of privately exhibiting such pictures as he did not sell1 and the small accumulation he had at ,harley ,street in #ahji was already dignified with the name of the 8,turner ,gallery40#ce ,this gallery ,turner's father attended to1 showing in visitors c41 and when they stayed at ,twickenham he came up to town every morning to open it4 ,thornbury says that the cost of this weighed upon his spirits until he made friends with a market-gardener1 who for a glass of gin a-day1 brought him up in his cart on the top of the vegetables4 ,this is said to have been after ,turner removed from ,harley ,street1 and was very well off if not rich1 for he had built his house in ,queen ,anne ,street and his lodge at ,twickenham1#cf both of which belonged to him1 as well as the land at ,twickenham1 and 7probably7 the house in ,harley ,street4 ,turner's father made great exertions to add to his son's estate at ,sandycombe1 by running out little earthworks in the road and then fencing them round4 ,at one time there was a regular row of these fortifications1 which used to be called 8,turner's ,cribs40 ,one day1 however1 they were ruthlessly swept away by some local authority4 ,if1 however1 both father and son were very 8saving0 and eccentric in their ways1 they were devoted to one another from the beginning to the end1 to an extent very touching and beautiful1 however strange in its manifestation4 ,of ,turner's life at ,west ,end1 ,upper ,mall1 ,hammersmith1 we have only the following glimpse in a communication to ,thornbury by 8a friend40 8,the garden1 which ran down to the river1 terminated in a summer-house2 and here1 out in the open air1 were painted some of his best pictures4 ,it was there that my father1 who then resided at ,kew1 became first acquainted with him2 and expressing his surprise that ,turner could paint under such circumstances1 he remarked that lights and room were absurdities1 and that a picture could be painted anywhere4 ,his eyes were remarkably strong4 ,he would throw down his water-colour drawings on the floor of the summer-house1 requesting my father not to touch them1 as he could see them there1 and they would be drying at the same time40 ,it may have been when at ,hammersmith that he became acquainted with ,mr4 ,trimmer1 for in a letter to ,mr4 ,wyatt of ,oxford respecting two pictures of that city1 which is dated 8,west ,end1 ,upper ,mall1 ,hammersmith1 ,feb4 #d1 #ahaj10 he says1 8,pray tell me likewise of a gentleman of the name of ,trimmer1 who has written to you to be a subscriber for the print40 ,this gentleman was the ,rev4 ,henry ,scott ,trimmer1 ,vicar of ,heston1 who was one of ,turner's best and most intimate friends till his death4 ,it is said that he first went to ,hammersmith to be near ,de ,loutherbourg1 and it is probable that one of his reasons for building on his free--hold at ,twickenham was to be nearer ,mr4 ,trimmer4 ,de ,loutherbourg died in #ahab4 ,sandycombe ,lodge1 first called ,solus ,lodge1 is on the road from ,twickenham to ,isleworth1 and is built on low lying ground and damp4 ,the original structure has been added to1 but the additions being built of brick1 it is easy to see how it looked in ,turner's time--a small semi-,italian villa covered with plaster and decorated with iron balustrades and steps4 ,it is within walking distance 7#d miles7 of ,heston4 ,we are able by the kindness of ,mr4 ,f4 ,e4 ,trimmer1 the youngest son of ,turner's friend1 to correct some false impressions conveyed by ,thornbury's garbled account of what he was told by the eldest son4 ,the ,rev4 ,henry ,scott ,trimmer1 the son of the celebrated ,mrs4 ,trimmer1 and father of the ,rev4 ,henry ,syer ,trimmer1 who gave ,thornbury his information1 was about the same age as ,turner1 and very much interested in art4 ,as an amateur painter he attained considerable skill1 having a wonderful faculty for catching the manner of other artists4 ,his great knowledge of pictures1 and his continual experiments in the way of mediums1 colours1 and devices for obtaining effects1 made his acquaintance specially interesting and valuable to ,turner1 and ,turner's to him4 ,no better proof of his ability can be found than the two following stories3-- ,there is a picture at ,heston before which ,turner would frequently stand studying4 ,it is a sea-piece with the sun behind a mist1 and with a golden hazy effect not unlike ,turner's famous ,sun rising in a ,mist1 but the sea washes up to the frame4 ,one day ,turner said to ,mr4 ,trimmer1 8,i like that picture2 there's a good deal in it4 ,where did you get it80 7,or words to this effect47 8,i painted it10 was the reply2 upon which the artist turned away without a word1 and never looked at the picture again4 ,the true story of the picture1 supposed to be by ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds1 to which ,mr4 ,trimmer added a background1 is this4#cg ,he purchased it in an unfinished condition of a dealer in ,holborn1 and finished it himself1 and it remained in his possession till his death1 when his son 7,mr4 ,f4 ,e4 ,trimmer71 knowing its history1 kept it out of the sale at ,christie's of his father's fine collection1 and sold it1 among other less valuable and genuine productions1 at ,heston4 ,the dealer who bought it 7for #f7 thought he had made a great catch1 and inquired of ,mr4 ,trimmer's son the history of the picture1 which he considered a splendid ,sir ,joshua1 speaking especially of the background as being a proof of its authenticity4 ,when ,mr4 ,trimmer told him that his father had bought it in his own shop and had finished it himself1 he would not believe it for a long time4 ,of the other stories of ,turner's connection with ,heston1 and of his power to assist others in the composition of their pictures1 the following is perhaps the most interesting3--#ch ,once when ,howard 7,r4,a47 was staying at the vicarage1 painting a portrait of ,mr4 ,trimmer's second son1 the ,rev4 ,barrington ,james ,trimmer1 ,turner was always finding fault with the work in progress4 ,it was a full-size and full-length portrait of a boy of three years old1 dressed in a white frock and red morocco shoes4 ,one day ,howard1 annoyed at ,turner's frequent objections1 told him that he had better do it himself1 on which ,turner said1 8,this is what ,i should do10 and taking up the cat he wrapped its body in his red pocket handkerchief1 and put it under the boy's arm4 ,the effect of this1 as may still be seen in the picture at the house of ,mr4 ,trimmer's son at ,heston1 was excellent4 ,the cat gave an interest to the figure which it wanted1 the red morocco shoes were no longer isolated patches of bright colour at the bottom of the picture1 the blank expanse of white frock was varied and lightened up by the red handkerchief and pussy's tabby face1 and the work1 which was on the brink of failure1 was a decided success4 ,parts of the cat1 handkerchief1 and landscape were put in by ,turner4 ,sketching with oils on a large canvas in a boat1 driving out on little sketching excursions in his gig with his ill-tempered nag ,crop ,ear1 said to have been immortalized in his picture of the ,frosty ,morning 7which was1 however1 painted before he went to ,twickenham71 fishing for trout in the ,old ,brent1 or for roach in the ,thames1 with ,mr4 ,trimmer's sons1 digging his pond in his garden and planting it round with weeping willows and alders1 the picture of ,turner's life at ,twickenham is a pleasant and healthy one4 ,at ,heston he drew his ,interior of a ,church for the 8,liber10 and actually gave away two of his drawings to ,mrs4 ,trimmer1 one of a ,gainsborough1 which they had seen together on an excursion to ,osterley ,house1 and one of a woman gathering watercresses1 whom they had met on their way4 ,but these gifts were asked for by the lady1 and ,turner would not let them go without making replicas4 ,he once stood with a long rod two whole days in a pouring rain under an umbrella fishing in a small pond in the vicarage garden1 without even a nibble4 ,in connection with the ,trimmers we get other instances of his rare and bare hospitality1 which showed that he never altered his manner of living after he left ,maiden ,lane4 ,we must refer the reader to ,mr4 ,thornbury's life for the remainder of these varied1 interesting1 and on the whole pleasant reminiscences4 ,space1 however1 we must spare for a letter1 very incorrectly given by ,thornbury1 the only record of his second attachment1 the object of which was the sister of the ,rev4 ,h4 ,scott ,trimmer1 who was at that time being courted by her future husband3-- 8,tuesday4 ,aug4 #a4 #ahae4 8,,queen ,,anne ,,st4 8,,my ,,dear ,,sir1 8,i lament that all hope of the pleasure of seeing you or getting to ,heston--must for the present wholly vanish4 ,my father told me on ,saturday last when ,i was as usual compelled to return to town the same day1 that you and ,mrs4 ,trimmer would leave ,heston for ,suffolk as tomorrow ,wednesday1 in the first place1 ,i am glad to hear that her health is so far established as to be equal to the journey1 and believe me your utmost hope1 for her benefitting by the sea air being fully realized will give me great pleasure to hear1 and the earlier the better4 8,after next ,tuesday--if you have a moments time to spare1 a line will reach me at ,farnley ,hall1 near ,otley ,yorkshire1 and for some time1 as ,mr4 ,fawkes talks of keeping me in the north by a trip to the ,lakes c4 until ,november therefore ,i suspect ,i am not to see ,sandycombe4 ,sandycombe sounds just now in my ears as an act of folly1 when ,i reflect how little ,i have been able to be there this year1 and less chance 7perhaps7 for the next in looking forward to a ,continental excursion1 poor ,daddy seems as much plagued with weeds as ,i am with disapointments1 that if ,miss ---- would but wave bashfulness1 or--in other words--make an offer instead of expecting one--the same might change occupiers--but not to teaze you further1 allow with most sincere respects to ,mrs4 ,trimmer and family1 to consider myself 8,your most truly 7or sincerely7 obliged 8,j4 ,m4 ,,turner40 ,but for the assurance of the present ,mr4 ,trimmer1 of ,heston1 that this attachment of ,turner to ,miss ,trimmer was undoubted1 and that this letter has always been considered in the family as a declaration thereof1 we should have thought that the offer he wanted was one for ,sandycombe ,lodge and not for his hand4 ,it is1 however1 past doubt that ,turner was violently smitten1 and though forty years old1 felt it much4 ,the above letter was the only one known to have been written by ,turner to his friend the ,vicar of ,heston1 and it is quite untrue1 as asserted by ,thornbury1 that the ,vicar's letters were burnt in sackfuls by his son4 ,his large correspondence was patiently gone through--a task which took some years4 ,thornbury was probably thinking of the destruction of the celebrated ,mrs4 ,trimmer's correspondence by her daughter1 in which it is true that sackfuls of interesting letters perished4 ,illustration3 decoration ,illustration3 decorative bar ,,chapter ,,vii4 ,,italy ,,and ,,france4 #ahbj ,,to #ahdj4 ,the life of ,turner the man1 that is1 what we know of it1 during these twenty years1 may be written almost in a page--the history of his art might be made to fill many volumes4 ,during this period he exhibited nearly eighty pictures at the ,royal ,academy1 and about five hundred engravings were published from his drawings4 ,if he had been famous before1 he was something else1 if not something more than famous now2 he was 8the fashion40 ,it was on this ground that ,sir ,walter ,scott1 who would have preferred ,thomson of ,duddingstone to illustrate his #8,provincial ,antiquities' 7published in #ahbf71 agreed to the employment of ,turner1 who afterwards 7in #ahcd7 furnished a beautiful series of sixty-five vignettes for ,cadell's edition of ,sir ,walter's prose and poetical works4 ,in #ahai ,turner paid his first visit to ,italy1 which had a marked influence on his style4 ,from this time forward his works become remarkable for their colour4 ,down to this time he had painted principally in browns1 blues1 and greys1 employing red and yellow very sparingly1 but he had been gradually warming his scale almost from the beginning4 ,from the wash of sepia and ,prussian blue1 he had slowly proceeded in the direction of golden and reddish brown1 and had produced both drawings and pictures with wonderful effects of mist and sunlight1 but he had scarcely gone beyond the sober colouring of ,vandevelde and ,ruysdael till he began his great pictures in rivalry with ,claude4 ,in them may be seen perhaps the dawn of the new power in his art4 ,in the ,exhibition of #ahae were two prophecies of his new style1 in which he was to transcend all former efforts in the painting of distance and in colour4 ,these were ,crossing the ,brook1 with its magical distance1 and ,dido building ,carthage1 with its blazing sky and brilliant feathery clouds4 ,the first is the purest and most beautiful of all his oil pictures of the loveliness of ,english scenery1 the most simple in its motive1 the most tranquil in its sentiment1 the perfect expression of his enjoyment of the exquisite scenery in the neighbourhood of ,plymouth4 ,the latter with all its faults was the finest of the kind he ever painted1 and his greatest effect in the way of colour before his visit to ,italy4 ,in his other ,carthage picture of this period1 ,the ,decline 7exhibited #ahag71 the 8brown demon10 as ,mr4 ,ruskin calls it1 was in full force1 and his pictures of ,dido and neas 7#ahad71 ,the ,temple of ,jupiter 7#ahag71 and ,apuleia and ,apuleius1 are cold and heavy in comparison4 ,indeed1 from #ahae to #ahbc his power1 judged by his exhibited pictures1 seemed to be flagging4 ,whether his second disappointment in love had anything to do with this we have no means of judging1 but if it disturbed for a time his power of painting for fame1 it certainly had no ill effect either as to the quantity or quality of his water-colours for the engravers4 ,his most worthy and beautiful work of these years is to be found not in his oil pictures but in his drawings for ,dr4 ,whitaker's #8,history of ,richmondshire' 7published #ahbc7 and the #8,rivers of ,england' 7#ahbd74 ,both series were engraved in line in a manner worthy of the artist4 ,one of the former1 the ,hornby ,castle1 a little faded perhaps1 but still exquisite in its harmonies of blue and amber1 is to be seen at ,south ,kensington4 ,three more were lately exhibited by ,mr4 ,ruskin--,heysham ,village1 ,egglestone ,abbey1 and ,richmond4 ,of this series ,mr4 ,ruskin says1 8,the foliage is rich and marvellous in composition1 the effects of mist more varied and true0 7than in the ,hakewill drawings71 8the rock and hill drawing insuperable1 the skies exquisite in complex form40 ,the engravings probably owed much to ,turner's own supervision1 and many of them1 such as ,egglestone ,abbey1 by ,t4 ,higham1 and ,wycliffe1 by ,john ,pye1 ,middiman's ,moss ,dale ,fall1 and ,radcliffe's ,hornby ,castle1 were perfect translations of the originals1 showing an advance in the art of engraving as great as that which ,turner had made in water-colour drawing4 ,except in the heightened scale of colour there is little in this series to show the influence of ,italy1 their temper is that of ,crossing the ,brook1 and the foliage and scenery that of ,england4 ,nor do we find anything but ,england in the #8,rivers4' ,nothing can be more purely ,english than the exquisite drawing of ,totnes on the ,dart 7of which we give a woodcut74 ,the original is one of the treasures of the ,national ,gallery1 and is marvellous for the minuteness of its finish and the breadth and truth of its effect4 ,the tiny group of poplars in the middle distance are painted with such dexterity that the impression of multitudinous leafage is perfectly conveyed1 and the stillness of clear smooth water filled with innumerable variegated reflections1 the beautiful distance with castle1 church1 and town1 and the group of gulls in the foreground1 make a picture of placid beauty in which there is no straining for effect1 no mannerism1 nothing to remind you of the artist4 ,it is only in the touches of red in the fore of the river 7touches unaccounted for by anything in the drawing7 that you discern him at last1 and find that you are looking not at nature but 8a ,turner40 ,if you are inclined to be angry with these touches1 cover them with the hand and find out how much of the charm is lost4 ,illustration3 ,,totnes ,,on ,,the ,,dart4 ,from 8,rivers of ,england40 ,after the #8,rivers of ,england1' ,turner produced work more magnificent in colour1 more transcendent in imagination1 indeed the work which singles him out individually from all landscape artists1 in which the essences of the material world were revealed in a manner which was not only unrealized but unconceived before2 but for perfect balance of power1 for the mirroring of nature as it appears to ninety-nine out of every hundred1 for fidelity of colour of both sky and earth1 and form 7especially of trees71 for carefulness and accuracy of drawing1 for work that neither startles you by its eccentricity nor puzzles you as to its meaning1 which satisfies without cloying1 and leaves no doubt as to the truth of its illusion1 there is none to compare with these drawings of his of ,england after his first visit to ,italy--and especially 7though perhaps it is because we know them best that we say so7 the drawings for the #8,rivers of ,england4' ,we are certain at least of this1 that no one has a right to form an opinion about ,turner's power generally1 either to go into ecstasies over or to deride his later work1 till he has seen some of these matchless drawings4 ,they form the true centre of his artistic life1 the point at which his desire for the simple truth and the imperious demands of his imagination were most nearly balanced4 ,in #ahba and #ahbd ,turner exhibited no pictures at the ,royal ,academy1 and it would have been no loss to his fame if his pictures of #ahbj and #ahbb1 ,rome1 from the ,vatican1 and ,what you will1 had never left his studio2 but in #ahbc he astonished the world with the first of those magnificent dreams of landscape loveliness with which his name will always be specially associated2--,the ,say of ,bai with ,apollo and the ,sibyl 7#ahbc74 ,the three supreme works of this class1 ,the ,bay of ,bai1 ,caligula's ,palace and ,bridge 7#ahca71 and ,childe ,harold's ,pilgrimage 7#ahcb71 are too well known to need description1 and have been too much written about to need much comment4 ,they were the realization of his impressions of ,italy1 with its sunny skies1 its stone-pines1 its ruins1 its luxuriance of vegetation1 its heritage of romance4 ,how little the names given to these pictures really influence their effect1 is shown by the frequency with which one of them is confused with another4 ,what verses of what poet1 what episode of history may have been in the artist's mind is of little consequence1 when the thought is expressed in the same terms of infinite sunny distance1 crumbling ruin and towering tree4 ,the artist may have meant to embody the whole of ,byron's mind in the ,childe ,harold1 the history of ,italy in ,caligula's ,palace and ,bridge1 the folly of life in ,apollo and the ,sibyl1 but it does not matter now1 the things are 8,turners10 neither more nor less2 we doubt very much whether ,turner cared greatly for the particular stories attached to many of his pictures4 ,some of them remind us of a title of a picture in the ,academy of #ahjh1 ,a ,temple and ,portico1 with the drowning of ,aristobulus1 vide ,josephus1 book #ae1 chap4 #c4 ,in some it was no doubt his ardent desire to proclaim his thoughts on history and fate1 but the result is much the same1 for the medium in which he attempted to convey them was that least suited for his purpose4 ,it was1 however1 his only means of expression1 and there is something very sad in the idea of a mind struggling in vain to give its most serious thoughts didactic force4 ,if these thoughts had been profound1 and the mind that of a prophet1 the failure would have been tragical4 ,the language employed was the highest of its kind1 but it was as inadequate for its purpose as music4 ,it has1 however1 like fine music1 the power of starting vibrations of sentiment full of suggestion1 giving birth to endless dreams of beauty and pleasure1 of sadness and foreboding1 according to the personality and humour of those who are sensitive to its charm4 ,in #ahbe were published his first illustrations to a modern poet--,byron2 he contributed some more to the editions of #ahcc and #ahcd1 most of them being views of places which he had never seen1 and therefore compositions from the sketches of others1 like his drawings for ,hakewill's 8,picturesque ,tour of ,italy0 and ,finden's 8,illustrations of the ,bible40 ,no doubt the experience of his youth in improving the sketches of amateurs and the liberty which such work gave to his imagination1 made it easy and congenial to him4 ,these drawings show the variety of his artistic power and the perfection of his technical skill4 ,the ,hakewill series is marvellous for minute accuracy 7being taken from camera sketches7 and for beautiful tree drawing1 and the ,bible series for imagination4 ,they are1 however1 of less interest in a biography than those which were based upon his own impressions of the scenes depicted1 such as his illustrations to ,rogers and ,scott4 ,illustration ,in #ahbe he exhibited only one picture1 ,harbour of ,dieppe1 and in #ahbf1 the year when the publication of the 8,southern ,coast0 terminated1 three1 of one of which there is told a story of unselfish generosity1 which deserves special record4 ,the picture was called ,cologne--the arrival of a ,packet-boat--,evening4 ,of this ,mr4 ,hamerton writes3 8,there were such unity and serenity in the work1 and such a glow of light and colour1 that it seemed like a window opened upon the land of the ideal1 where the harmonies of things are more perfect than they have ever been in the common world40 ,the picture was hung between two of ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence's portraits1 and ,turner covered its glowing glory with a wash of lampblack1 so as not to spoil their effect4 8,poor ,lawrence was so unhappy10 he said4 8,it will all wash off after the ,exhibition40 ,as ,mr4 ,hamerton truly observes1 8,it is not as if ,turner had been indifferent to fame40 ,there are many stories of apparently contrary action on ,turner's part1 namely1 of heightening the colour of his pictures to 8kill0 those of his neighbours at the ,academy1 but they do not spoil this story4 ,during those merry 8varnishing days0 which ,turner enjoyed so much1 attempts to outcolour one another were ordinary jokes--give-and-take sallies of skill1 made in good humour4 ,no one entered into such contests with more zest than ,turner1 and he was not always the victor4 ,this story seems to us to prove that when ,turner saw that any one was really hurt1 his tenderness was greater than his spirit of emulation and jest4 ,leslie tells the best of the 8counter stories40 8,in #ahcb1 when ,constable exhibited his ,opening of ,waterloo ,bridge1#ci it was placed in the ,school of ,painting--one of the small rooms at ,somerset ,house4 ,a sea piece1#dj by ,turner1 was next to it--a grey picture1 beautiful and true1 but with no positive colour in any part of it--,constable's ,waterloo seemed as if painted with liquid gold and silver1 and ,turner came several times into the room while he was heightening with vermilion and lake the decorations and flags of the ,city barges4 ,turner stood behind him1 looking from the ,waterloo to his own picture1 and at last brought his palette from the great room1 where he was touching another picture1 and putting a round daub of red lead1 somewhat bigger than a shilling1 on his grey sea1 went away without saying a word4 ,the intensity of the red lead1 made more vivid by the coolness of the picture1 caused even the vermilion and lake of ,constable to look weak4 ,i came into the room just as ,turner left it4 #8,he has been here1' said ,constable1 #8and fired a gun4'0 ,on the opposite wall was a picture1 by ,jones1 of ,shadrach1 ,meshach1 and ,abednego in the furnace4#da 8,a coal10 said ,cooper1 8has bounced across the room from ,jones's picture1 and set fire to ,turner's sea40 ,the great man did not come into the room for a day and a half2 and then in the last moments that were allowed for painting1 he glazed the scarlet seal he had put on his picture1 and shaped it into a buoy40#db ,this daub of red lead was rather defensive than offensive1 and there is no story of ,turner which shows any malice in his nature4 ,to his brother artists he was always friendly and just2 he never spoke in their disparagement1 and often helped young artists with a kind word or a practical suggestion4 ,even ,constable--between whom and ,turner not much love was lost1 according to ,thornbury--he helped on one occasion by striking in a ripple in the foreground of his picture--the 8something0 just wanted to make the composition satisfactory4 ,we think1 then1 that we may enjoy the beautiful story of self-sacrifice for ,lawrence's sake1 without any disagreeable reflection that it is spoilt by others showing a contrary spirit towards his brother artists4 ,the year #ahbf was his last at ,sandycombe4 ,as he had taken it for the sake of his father1 so he gave it up1 for 8,dad0 was always working in the garden and catching cold4 ,he took this step much to his own sorrow1 we believe1 and much to our and his loss4 ,without the pleasant and wholesome neighbourhood of the ,trimmers1 with no home but the gloomy1 dirty1 disreputable ,queen ,anne ,street1 he became more solitary1 more self-absorbed1 or absorbed in his art 7much the same thing with him71 and lived only to follow unrestrained wherever his wayward genius led him1 and to amass money for which he could find no use4 ,how he still loved to grasp it1 however1 and how unscrupulous he was in doing so1 is painfully shown in his dispute with ,cooke about this time 7#ahbg71 which prevented a proposed continuation of the 8,southern ,coast40 ,mr4 ,cooke's letter relating to it1 though long1 is too important to omit1 and1 though it may be said to be ex parte1 carries sad conviction of its truth3-- 8,january #a1 #ahbg4 8,,dear ,,sir1 8,i cannot help regretting that you persist in demanding twenty-five sets of ,india proofs before the letters of the continuation of the work of the #8,coast1' besides being paid for the drawings4 ,it is like a film before your eyes1 to prevent your obtaining upwards of two thousand pounds in a commission for drawings for that work4 8,upon mature reflection you must see ,i have done all in my power to satisfy you of the total impossibility of acquiescing in such a demand2 it would be unjust both to my subscribers and to myself4 8,the #8,coast' being my own original plan1 which cost me some anxiety before ,i could bring it to maturity1 and an immense expense before ,i applied to you1 when ,i gave a commission for drawings to upwards of #djj1 at my own entire risk1 in which the shareholders were not willing to take any part1 ,i did all ,i could to persuade you to have one share1 and which ,i did from a firm conviction that it would afford some remuneration for your exertions on the drawings1 in addition to the amount of the contract4 ,the share was1 as it were1 forced upon you by myself1 with the best feelings in the world2 and was1 as you well know1 repeatedly refused1 under the idea that there was a possibility of losing money by it4 ,you cannot deny the result3 a constant dividend of profit has been made to you at various times1 and will be so for some time to come4 8,on ,saturday last1 to my utter astonishment1 you declared in my print-rooms1 before three persons1 who distinctly heard it1 as follows3 #8,i will have my terms1 or ,i will oppose the work by doing another 8,coast60' ,these were the words you used1 and every one must allow them to be a threat4 8,and this morning 7,monday71 you show me a note of my own handwriting1 with these words 7or words to this immediate effect73 #8,the drawings for the future 8,coast0 shall be paid twelve guineas and a half each4' 8,now1 in the name of common honesty1 how can you apply the above note to any drawings for the first division of the work called the #8,southern ,coast1' and tell me ,i owe you two guineas on each of those drawings8 ,did you not agree to make the whole of the #8,south ,coast' drawings at #g #ajs4 each8 and did ,i not continue to pay you that sum for the first four numbers8 ,when a meeting of the partners took place1 to take into consideration the great exertions that myself and my brother had made on the plates1 to testify their entire satisfaction1 and considering the difficulties ,i had placed myself in by such an agreement as ,i had made 7dictated by my enthusiasm for the welfare of a work which had been planned and executed with so much zeal1 and of my being paid the small sum only of twenty-five guineas for each plate1 including the loan of the drawings1 for which ,i received no return or consideration whatever on the part of the shareholders71 they unanimously 7excepting on your part7 and very liberally increased the price of each plate to #dj2 and ,i agreed1 on my part1 to pay you ten guineas for each drawing after the fourth number4 ,and have ,i not kept this agreement8 ,yes2 you have received from me1 and from ,messrs4 ,arch on my account1 the whole sum so agreed upon1 and for which you have given me and them receipts4 ,the work has now been finished upwards of six months1 when you show me a note of my own handwriting1 and which was written to you in reply to a part of your letter1 where you say1 #8,do you imagine ,i shall go to ,john ,o',groat's ,house for the same sum ,i receive for the ,southern part8' ,is this fair conduct between man and man--to apply the note 7so explicit in itself7 to the former work1 and to endeavour to make me believe ,i still owe you two guineas and a-half on each drawing8 ,why1 let me ask you1 should ,i promise you such a sum8 ,what possible motive could ,i have in heaping gold into your pockets1 when you have always taken such especial care of your interests1 even in the case of ,neptune's ,trident1 which ,i can declare you presented to me2 and1 in the spirit of this understanding1 ,i presented it again to ,mrs4 ,cooke4 ,you may recollect afterwards charging me two guineas for the loan of it1 and requesting me at the same time to return it to you1 which has been done4 8,the ungracious remarks ,i experienced this morning at your house1 where ,i pointed out to you the meaning of my former note--that it referred to the future part of the work1 and not to the #8,southern ,coast'--were such as to convince me that you maintain a mistaken and most unaccountable idea of profit and advantage in the new work of the #8,coast1' and that no estimate or calculation will convince you to the contrary4 8,ask yourself if ,hakewill's #8,italy1' #8,scottish ,scenery1' or #8,yorkshire' works have either of them succeeded in the return of the capital laid out on them4 8,these works have had in them as much of your individual talent as the #8,southern ,coast1' being modelled on the principle of it2 and although they have answered your purpose1 by the commissions for drawings1 yet there is considerable doubt remaining whether the shareholders and proprietors will ever be reinstated in the money laid out on them4 ,so much for the profit of works4 ,i assure you ,i must turn over an entirely new leaf to make them ever return their expenses4 8,to conclude1 ,i regret exceedingly the time ,i have bestowed in endeavouring to convince you in a calm and patient manner of a number of calculations made for your satisfaction2 and ,i have met in return such hostile treatment that ,i am positively disgusted at the mere thought of the trouble ,i have given myself on such a useless occasion4 8,i remain1 8,your obedient servant1 8,w4 ,b4 ,,cooke40 ,when we realize that this was the same man that closed his connection with ,mr4 ,lewis1 because he would not both etch and aquatint the plates of the ,liber for the same terms as those agreed upon for aquatinting alone1 we are able to understand why he was characterized as a 8great ,jew10 in a letter of introduction1 which he brought from a publisher in ,london to one in ,yorkshire1 when he went to that county to illustrate ,dr4 ,whitaker's ,history of ,richmondshire4 ,mrs4 ,whitaker1 who was his hostess at the time1 hearing of this took the phrase literally1 and1 says ,mr4 ,hamerton1 8treated him as an ,israelite indeed1 possibly with reference to church attendance and the consumption of ham40 ,in #ahbg was published the first part of his largest series of prints1 the 8,england and ,wales10 which were engraved with matchless skill by that trained band of engravers who brought1 with the artist's assistance1 the art of engraving landscapes in line to a point never before attained4 ,the history of ,turner and his engravers has yet to be fully written2 the number of them from first to last is extraordinary1 probably nearly one hundred4 ,of these1 twenty1 and nearly all the best1 were employed on this work--,goodall1 ,wallis1 ,willmore1 ,w4 ,miller1 ,brandard1 ,radcliffe1 ,jeavons1 ,w4 ,r4 ,smith1 and others4 ,never before was so great an artist surrounded by such a skilled body of interpreters in black and white4 ,the drawings were unequal in merit1 but nearly all of them wonderful for power of colour and daring effect1 with ever lessening regard for local accuracy4 ,the artist threw aside all traditions and conventions1 and proclaimed himself as 8,turner10 the great composer of chromatic harmonies in forms of sea and sky1 hills and plains1 sunshine and storm1 towns and shipping1 castles and cathedrals4 ,he could not do this without sacrificing much of truth1 and much of what was essential truth in a work whose aim was professedly topographical4 ,imaginative art of all kinds has a code analogous to1 but not identical with1 the moral code3 beauty takes the seat of virtue and harmony of truth1 and when the work is purely imaginative1 there is no conflict between fancy and fact which can make the strictest shake his head4 ,but when known facts are dealt with by the imagination1 the conflict arises immediately1 and it would scarcely be possible to find a case in which it was more obvious than in ,turner's 8,england and ,wales10 in which he made the familiar scenes of his own country conform to the authoritative conception of his pictorial fancy4 ,whether he was right or wrong in raising the cliffs of ,england to ,alpine dignity1 in saturating her verdant fields with yellow sun1 in exaggerating this1 in ignoring that1 has been argued often1 and will be argued over and over again2 but all art is a compromise1 and the precise justice of the compromise will ever be a matter of opinion4 ,art v4 ,nature is a cause which will last longer than any ,chancery suit4 ,even artists cannot agree as to the amount of licence which it is proper to take1 but they are all conscious that they at least keep on the right side2 one thing only1 all1 or nearly all1 are agreed upon1 and that is that licence must be taken1 or art becomes handicraft4 ,about ,turner almost the only thing which can be said with certainty is that he stretched his liberty to the extreme limits4 ,yet to the pictorial code of morals he was the most faithful of artists1 he almost always reached beauty1 his harmonies were almost always perfect1 and he strove after his own peculiar generalization of fact1 and his own peculiar extract of truth with the greatest ardour4 ,this extract was his impression of a place1 made up generally 7at least in his foreign scenes7 of two or three sketches taken from different points of view1 and he was very careful to study not only the principal features of the country1 but the costume and employment of the inhabitants1 and the description of local vehicle1 on wheels or keel4 ,from these studies would arise the conception of one scene1 combining all that his mind retained as essential--a growth which1 however false it might appear when compared with the actual facts of the place from one point of view1 contained nothing but what had a germ of truth1 and of local truth4 ,that this applies to all his drawings we do not say1 but we are confident that it does to most4 ,many of his drawings for the 8,england and ,wales0 were probably taken from sketches that had lain in his portfolios for years1 and were dressed up by him when wanted1 with such accessories of storm and rainbow as occurred to his fancy1 or to his memory and feelings as connected with the spot4 ,there is1 we think1 no doubt that ,turner strove to be conscientious2 but his conscience was a 8pictorial0 conscience1 and no man can judge him4 ,we can only take his works as they are1 and be thankful that all the strange confusions of his mind1 and mingled accidents of his life1 have produced so unique and beautiful a result as the 8,england and ,wales40 ,it is no use now regretting that his vast powers in their prime were used wastefully in what will appear to many as the falsification of ,english landscape2 it is far better to rejoice that the genius and knowledge of the man were so transcendent that1 in spite of all the worst that can be said1 each separate drawing is precious in itself as a record of natural phenomena1 and a masterly arrangement of indefinite forms and beautiful colour4 ,mr4 ,ruskin affirms that1 8howsoever it came to pass1 a strange1 and in many respects grievous metamorphosis takes place upon him about the year #ahbe4 ,thenceforth he shows clearly the sense of a terrific wrongness1 and sadness1 mingled in the beautiful order of the earth2 his work becomes partly satirical1 partly reckless1 partly--and in its greatest and noblest features--tragic40 ,we are not prepared to assent to this entirely1 especially as ,mr4 ,ruskin states immediately afterwards that one at least of the manifestations of 8this new phase of temper0 can be traced unmistakably in the 8,liber10 which was concluded six years before2 but there is no doubt that his work for some of these years was distinguished by recklessness and caprice in an unusual degree1 and we have little doubt that his removal from ,sandycombe1 and the consequent loss of healthy companionship1 had something to do with it4 ,during three years he exhibited no pictures of special interest1 except the ,cologne of #ahbf1 and the ,ulysses deriding ,polyphemus of #ahbi4 ,this latter picture we take to be a sure sign of recovery1 as it shows perhaps the most complete balance of power of any of his large works1 being not less wonderful for happy choice of subject than for grandeur of conception and splendour of colour--the first picture in which1 since the ,apollo and ,python of #ahaa1 the union between the literary subject and the landscape1 or 7if we must use that horrid word7 seascape1 was perfect4 ,this picture was no ,temple and ,portico1 with the drowning of ,aristobulus4 ,the grand indefinite figure of the agonized giant1 the crowded ship of ,ulysses1 the water-nymphs and the dying sun1 are all parts of one conception1 and show what ,turner could do when his imagination was thoroughly inflamed4 ,whence the inspiration was derived it is difficult to say4 ,like most of his inspirations1 it probably had more than one source4 ,homer's ,odyssey is the source given in the catalogue2 but it is probable1 as we before have hinted1 that the figure of ,polyphemus was suggested by the splendid description in the fourteenth book of ,ovid's ,metamorphoses4 ,many years had lapsed since he had shown the full force of his imagination under the influence of classical story1 and he was never to do so again4 ,subjects of the kind suited to his peculiar genius were difficult to find1 and he had no such habitual intercourse with his intellectual peers as enabled him to gather suggestions for his works4 ,he was thrown entirely on his own uneducated resources1 and the result was1 with his imperfect knowledge of his own strength and the limits of his art1 partial failure of most1 and total failure of many of his most strenuous efforts4 ,this is one of the saddest facts of his art-life1 the frequent waste1 or partial waste1 of unique power4 ,his increasing isolation of mind was mitigated no doubt by constant visits to ,petworth1 ,farnley1 and other houses of his friends and patrons1 by the chaff of 8varnishing days10 by social meetings of the ,academy ,club1 and by frequent travel2 but it increased notwithstanding4 ,not ,mr4 ,trimmer1 nor ,lord ,egremont1 nor even his friends and fellow ,academicians1 ,chantrey and ,jones1 could break through his barrier of reserve and see the man ,turner face to face4 ,from the beginning he had his secrets1 and he kept them to the end4 ,he could be merry and social in a gathering where the talk never became confidential1 and with children 7whom he could not distrust72 but his living-rooms in ,queen ,anne ,street1 his painting-room wherever he was1 and his heart1 were1 with scarcely an exception1 opened to none4 ,at ,petworth1 ,lord ,egremont indeed was allowed to enter his studio2 but he had to give a peculiar knock agreed upon between them before he would open the door4 ,in #ahbh he was at ,rome again1 from which place he wrote the following letters#dc to ,chantrey and ,jones of unusual length and interest4 8,,to ,,george ,,jones1 ,r4,a4 8,,rome1 8,oct4 #ac1 #ahbh4 8,,dear ,,jones1 8,two months nearly in getting to this terra pictura1 and at work2 but the length of time is my own fault4 ,i must see the ,south of ,france1 which almost knocked me up1 the heat was so intense1 particularly at ,nismes and ,avignon2 and until ,i got a plunge into the sea at ,marseilles1 ,i felt so weak that nothing but the change of scene kept me onwards to my distant point4 ,genoa1 and all the sea-coast from ,nice to ,spezzia1 is remarkably rugged and fine2 so is ,massa4 ,tell that fat fellow ,chantrey that ,i did think of him1 then 7but not the first or the last time7 of the thousands he had made out of those marble craigs which only afforded me a sour bottle of wine and a sketch2 but he deserves everything which is good1 though he did give me a fit of the spleen at ,carrara4 8,sorry to hear your friend1 ,sir ,henry ,bunbury1 has lost his lady4 ,how did you know this8 ,you will answer1 of ,captain ,napier1 at ,siena4 ,the letter announcing the sad event arrived the next day after ,i got there4 ,they were on the wing--,mrs4 ,w4 ,light to ,leghorn1 to meet ,colonel ,light1 and ,captain and ,mrs4 ,napier for ,naples2 so1 all things considered1 ,i determined to quit instanter1 instead of adding to the trouble4 8,hope that you have been better than usual1 and that the pictures go on well4 ,if you should be passing ,queen ,anne ,street1 just say ,i am well1 and in ,rome1 for ,i fear young ,hakewell has written to his father of my being unwell3 and may ,i trouble you to drop a line into the two-penny post to ,mr4 ,c4 ,heath1 #f1 ,seymour ,place1 ,new ,pancras ,church1 or send my people to tell him that1 if he has anything to send me1 to put it up in a letter 7it is the most sure way of its reaching me71 directed for me1 ,no4 #ab1 ,piazza ,mignanelli1 ,rome1 and to which place ,i hope you will send me a line8 ,excuse my troubling you with my requests of business4 ,remember me to all friends4 ,so ,god bless you4 ,adieu4 8,j4 ,m4 ,,turner40 8,,to ,,francis ,,chantrey1 ,r4,a4 8,,no4 #ab1 ,,piazza ,,mignanelli1 ,,rome1 8,nov4 #f1 #ahbh4 8,,my ,,dear ,,chantrey1 8,i intended long before this 7but you will say1 #8,fudge6'7 to have written2 but even now very little information have ,i to give you in matters of ,art1 for ,i have confined myself to the painting department at ,corso2 and having finished one1 am about the second1 and getting on with ,lord ,e4's1 which ,i began the very first touch at ,rome2 but as the folk here talked that ,i would show them not1 ,i finished a small three feet four to stop their gabbling4 ,so now to business4 ,sculpture1 of course1 first2 for it carries away all the patronage1 so it is said1 in ,rome2 but all seem to share in the good-will of the patrons of the day4 ,gott's studio is full4 ,wyatt and ,rennie1 ,ewing1 ,buxton1 all employed4 ,gibson has two groups in hand1 ,venus and ,cupid2 and ,the ,rape of ,hylas1 three figures1 very forward1 though ,i doubt much if it will be in time 7taking the long voyage into the scale7 for the ,exhibition1 though it is for ,england4 ,its style is something like ,the ,psyche1 being two standing figures of nymphs leaning1 enamoured1 over the youthful ,hylas1 with his pitcher4 ,the ,venus is a sitting figure1 with the ,cupid in attendance2 and if it had wings like a dove1 to flee away and be at rest1 the rest would not be the worse for the change4 ,thorwaldsten is closely engaged on the late ,pope's 7,pius ,,vii47 monument4 ,portraits of the superior animal1 man1 is to be found in all4 ,in some1 the inferior--viz4 greyhounds and poodles1 cats and monkeys1 c41 c4 8,pray give my remembrances to ,jones and ,stokes1 and tell him ,i have not seen a bit of coal stratum for months4 ,my love to ,mrs4 ,chantrey1 and take the same and good wishes of 8,yours most truly1 8,j4 ,m4 ,,turner40 ,this method of communicating with 8his people0 is peculiar1 and shows that he was not in the habit of corresponding with them when away on his numerous visits and tours4 ,perhaps they could not read1 perhaps he wished to save postage--whatever hypothesis we may adopt1 the fact is singular4 ,the pictures of ,the ,banks of the ,loire2 ,the ,loretto ,necklace2 ,messieurs les ,voyageurs on their return from ,italy 7par la ,diligence7 in a snowdrift upon ,mount ,tarra1 #bbnd of ,january1 #ahbi--;all exhibited in #ahbi--were the results of this tour1 besides some of the pictures of #ahcj1 one of which1 ,view of ,orvieto1 is1 according to ,mr4 ,hamerton1 the identical 8small three feet four0 which he painted to 8stop the gabbling0 of the folk at ,rome4 ,in this year 7#ahcj1 he being then fifty-five years old7 died ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence1 whose loss he probably felt much1 and of whose funeral he painted a picture 7from memory72 but the year had a greater sorrow for him than this--the loss of his 8poor old ,dad40 ,the removal from ,twickenham did not avail to preserve the old man's life for long4 ,we have the testimony of the ,trimmers1 with whom after the event he stayed for a few days for change of scene1 that 8he was fearfully out of spirits1 and felt his loss1 he said1 like that of an only child10 and that he 8never appeared the same man after his father's death40 ,to men like ,turner1 who are not accustomed to express their feelings much1 or even to realize them1 such blows come with all their natural violence unchecked1 unforeseen1 unprovided against4 ,it had probably never occurred to him how much his father was to him1 how blank a space his loss would make in his narrow garden of human affection4 ,from this time he was to know many losses of old friends1 each of which fell heavily upon him1 leaving him more lonely than ever4 ,his friends were few1 and they dropped one by one1 nor is there any evidence to show that their loss was ever lightened by any hope of meeting them again2 the lights of his life went out one by one1 and left him alone and in the dark4 ,in #ahcc ,dr4 ,monro died1 in #ahcf ,mr4 ,wells1 in #ahcg ,lord ,egremont1 in #ahda ,chantrey1 and he was to feel the loss of ,mr4 ,fawkes and ,wilkie1 and many more before his own time came4 ,in ,february1 #ahcj1 he wrote to ,jones3-- 8,,dear ,,jones--,i delayed answering yours until the chance of this finding you in ,rome1 to give you some account of the dismal prospect of ,academic affairs1 and of the last sad ceremonies paid yesterday to departed talent gone to that bourn from whence no traveller returns4 ,alas6 only two short months ,sir ,thomas followed the coffin of ,dawe to the same place4 ,we then were his pall-bearers4 ,who will do the like for me1 or when1 ,god only knows how soon6 ,however1 it is something to feel that gifted talent can be acknowledged by the many who yesterday waded up to their knees in snow and muck to see the funeral pomp swelled up by carriages of the great1 without the persons themselves40 ,no doubt these deaths set him thinking of his own1 and the disposition of his wealth so useless to him1 and he probably brooded long over the will that he signed on the #ajth of ,june in the next year 7#ahca74 ,many excuses have been made for his niggardly habits on the score of the nobleness of mind shown in this document2 he screwed and denied himself 7we are told7 when living1 to make old artists comfortable after his death4 ,we are afraid that there is no ground for this charitable view1 nor any evidence that he ever denied himself anything that he preferred to hard cash1 or that he ever thought of giving it1 or any farthing of it1 away to anybody1 till he had more than he could spend1 and was brought by the deaths of his friends to realize that he could not take it with him when he died4 ,then indeed he disposed of it2 but where was the bulk to go8 ,not to his nearest of kin1 whom he had neglected all his life--fifty pounds was enough for uncles1 and twenty-five for their eldest sons2 not to his mistress or mistresses1 who had been devoted to him all his life1 or to his children--annuities of ten and fifty pounds were enough for them2 but for the perpetuation of his name and fame1 as the founder of 8,turner's ,gift0 and the eclipser of ,claude4#dd ,we do not know when ,turner became acquainted with ,samuel ,rogers2 but probably some years before this1 as he is named as one of the executors in the will1 and the famous illustrated edition of 8,italy0 was published in #ahcj1 followed by the ,poems in #ahcd4 ,these contain the most exquisite of all the engravings from ,turner's vignettes4 ,exquisite also are most of the drawings1 but some of them are spoilt by the capriciousness of their colour1 which seems in many cases to have been employed as an indication to the engraver rather than for the purpose of imitating the hues of nature4 ,the most beautiful perhaps of all1 ,tornaro's misty brow1 seems to us far too blue1 and the yellow of the sky in others is too strong to be probable or even in harmony with the rest of the drawing4 ,it would1 however1 be difficult to find in the whole range of his works two really greater 7though so small in size7 than the ,alps at ,daybreak1 and ,datur hora quieti1 of which we give woodcuts1 losing of course much of the light refinement of the steel plates1 but wonderfully true in general effect4 ,the former is as perfect an illustration as possible of the sentiment of ,rogers's pretty verses1 but it far transcends them in beauty and imagination2 the latter is not in illustration of any of the poet's verses1 but is a more beautiful poem than ever ,rogers wrote4 ,the illustration from 8,jacqueline0 which we give1 though not so transcendent in imagination1 is a scene of extraordinary beauty of rock and torrent1 and castle-crowned steep1 such as no hand but ,turner's could have drawn1 while the ,vision from 8,the ,voyage of ,columbus0 is equally characteristic1 showing how he could make an impressive picture out of the vaguest notions by his extraordinary mastery of light and shade4 ,in #ahcc ,turner exhibited his first pictures of ,venice1 the last home of his imagination4 ,the date of his first visit to the 8floating city0 is uncertain4 ,there are two series of ,venetian sketches in the ,national ,gallery1 which mark two distinct impressions4 ,in the first the colour is comparatively sober2 the sky is noted as1 before all things1 a marvellously blue sky2 the interest of the painter is in the watery streets1 the picturesqueness of corners here and there1 in narrow canals and the different-coloured marbles of the buildings2 he takes the city in bits from the inside in broad daylight1 and they are studies as realistic as he could make them at the time4 ,in the other series the interest of the painter is ,,colour1 not of the buildings1 but of the sunsets and sunrises1 the clouds of crimson and yellow1 the water of green1 in which the sapphire and the emerald and the beryl seem to blend their hues4 ,the substantial marble1 the solid blue sky1 the strong light and sharp shadows have melted into visions of ethereal palaces and gemlike colour1 like those in the ,apocalypse4 ,as he began painting the sea from ,vandevelde and nature1 so he began painting ,venice from ,canaletti and nature2 but the transition from the studious beginning to the imaginative end was very swift in the latter case4 ,venice soon became to him the paradise of colour1 and he rose to heights of chromatic daring which exceeded anything which even he had scaled before4 ,illustration3 ,,light-,,towers ,,of ,,the ,h,,ve4 ,from 8,rivers of ,france40 ,the time at which we have now arrived was that of his earlier sketches1 and he could turn away from ,venice and draw with unabated zest the quieter but still lovely scenery of the ,seine and the ,loire4 ,to #ahcc-d and #ahce belong his beautiful series called ,the ,rivers of ,france4 ,opinions are divided1 as usual1 as to the truthfulness of his art to the spirit of ,french scenery1 and a comparison between ,the ,light-towers of the ,hve in our woodcut1 and the drawing which he made on the spot 7now in the ,national ,gallery7 will show how greatly his imagination altered the literal facts of a scene4 ,one who has patiently followed his footsteps in many parts of ,england and on the ,continent testifies to the puzzling effects of ,turner's imaginative records4 ,he seeks in vain on the face of the earth the original of ,turner's later drawings1 but he can never see these drawings without finding all that he has seen4 ,indeed1 to understand them rightly1 they must be considered as poems in colour suggested by pictorial recollections of certain scenes on the rivers of ,france4 ,most of them are arrangements of blue1 red1 and yellow1 some of yellow and grey1 all exquisitely beautiful in arrangement of line and atmospheric effect4 ,nor has he in any other drawings introduced figures and animals with more skill and beauty of suggestion4 ,the whole series palpitates with living light1 although the pigments employed are opaque1 and each view charms the sense of colour-harmony1 although the colours are crude and disagreeable4 ,it has always appeared wonderful to us that1 with his power over water-colours and delight in clear tones1 he should have been content to work with such chalky material and impure tints2 it is as though he preferred to combat difficulties2 but they were drawn to be engraved1 and as long as he got his harmonies and his light and shade true we suppose he was content4 ,the great skill with which he could utilize the grey paper on which these drawings were made1 leaving it uncovered in the sky and other places where it would serve his purpose1 conduced to swiftness of work1 and may have been one of his motives4 ,the drawing of ,jumiges1 of which we give a woodcut1 is one of the loveliest of the series1 with its mouldering ruin standing out for a moment like a skeleton against the steely cloud1 before the fierce storm covers it with gloom4 ,in these yearly visits to ,france1 ,turner was accompanied by ,mr4 ,leitch ,ritchie1 who supplied the work with some description of the places4 ,they travelled1 however1 very little together2 their tastes in everything but art being exceedingly dissimilar4 8,i was curious10 says his companion1 8in observing what he made of the objects he selected for his sketches1 and was frequently surprised to find what a forcible idea he conveyed of a place with scarcely a correct detail4 ,his exaggerations1 when it suited his purpose to exaggerate1 were wonderful--lifting up1 for instance1 by two or three stories1 the steeple1 or rather1 stunted cone1 of a village church--and when ,i returned to ,london ,i never failed to roast him on this habit4 ,he took my remarks in good part1 sometimes1 indeed1 in great glee1 never attempting to defend himself otherwise than by rolling back the war into the enemy's camp4 ,in my account of the famous ,gilles de ,retz1 ,i had attempted to identify that prototype of #8,blue ,beard' with the hero of the nursery story1 by absurdly insisting that his beard was so intensely black that it seemed to have a shade of blue4 ,this tickled the great painter hugely1 and his only reply to my bantering was--his little sharp eyes glistening the while--#8,blue ,beard6 ,blue ,beard6 ,black ,beard6'0 ,illustration3 ,,jumi,,ges4 ,from 8,rivers of ,france40 ,we do not know when ,turner became first acquainted with ,mr4 ,munro of ,novar1 one of the greatest admirers of the artist and collectors of his later works1 but it was in #ahcf that we first hear of them as travelling together1 when1 it is said1 8a serious depression of spirits having fallen on ,mr4 ,munro10 ,turner proposed to divert his mind into fresh channels by travel4 ,they went to ,switzerland and ,italy1 and ,mr4 ,munro found that ,turner enjoyed himself in his way--a 8sort of honest ,diogenes way0--and that it was easy to get on very pleasantly with him 8if you bore with his way10 a description which1 meant to be kind1 does not say much for his sociability at this period4 ,indeed1 he had been all his life1 and especially1 we expect1 since he left ,twickenham1 developing as an artist and shrivelling as a man1 and after this year 7#ahcf71 though he still developed in power of colour and painted some of his finest and most distinctive works1 the signs of change1 if not of decline1 were also visible4 ,he was also getting out of the favour of the public1 who could not see any beauty in such works as the ,burning of the ,houses of ,lords and ,commons1 of #ahce1 or ,juliet and her ,nurse1 of #ahcf4 ,illustration3 ,,fighting ,t,m,,raire4 ,exhibited in #ahci4 ,national ,gallery4 ,his fame began to oscillate1 tottering with one picture and set upright by another4 ,as long1 however1 as he could paint such pictures as ,mercury and ,argus1 #ahcf1 and the ,fighting ,tmraire1 of #ahci1 it was in a measure safe4 ,he was still a great genius to whom eccentricities were natural1 but the ,fighting ,tmraire was the last picture of his at which no stone was thrown4 ,this is in many ways the finest of all his pictures4 ,light and brilliant yet solemn in colour2 penetrated with a sentiment which finds an echo in every heart2 appealing to national feeling and to that larger sympathy with the fate of all created things2 symbolic1 by its contrast between the old three-decker and the little steam-tug1 of the 8old order10 which 8changeth1 yielding place to new0--the picture was and always will be as popular as it deserves4 ,it is characteristic of ,turner that the idea of the picture did not originate with him1 but with ,stanfield4 ,would that ,turner had always had some friend at his elbow to hold the torch to his imagination4 ,illustration3 decoration ,illustration3 decorative bar ,,chapter ,,viii4 ,,light ,,and ,,darkness4 #ahdj ,,to #ahea4 ,turner was now sixty-five years old1 and his decline as an artist was to be expected from failing health and stress of years4 ,for little less than half a century he had worked harder and produced more than any other artist of whom we have any record4 ,nor would he rest now1 although his failing powers of body and mind required stimulants to support their energy4 ,mr4 ,wilkie ,collins informed ,mr4 ,thornbury that1 when a boy-- 8,he used to attend his father on varnishing days1 and remembers seeing ,turner 7not the more perfect in his balance for the brown sherry at the ,academy lunch7 seated on the top of a flight of steps1 astride a box4 ,there he sat1 a shabby ,bacchus1 nodding like a ,mandarin at his picture1 which he1 with a pendulum motion1 now touched with his brush and now receded from4 ,yet1 in spite of sherry1 precarious seat1 and old age1 he went on shaping in some wonderful dream of colour2 every touch meaning something1 every pin's head of colour being a note in the chromatic scale40 ,we have spoken of ,turner as declining as an artist1 but we are not sure that he did so till about #ahde1 when1 ,mr4 ,ruskin says1 8his health1 and with it in great degree his mind1 failed suddenly40 ,down to this time his decay seems to us to have been more physical than artistic1 but with the physical weakness there had been1 we think1 for some time a deterioration of the non-artistic part of his mind4 ,his decay1 though so unlike the decay of others1 appears to us to have nothing inexplicable about it if we consider him as a man who had never had any sympathy with the current opinions and culture of his fellows1 and who1 by some strange defect in his organization1 was unable to think without the use of his eyes4 ,that his eyesight failed there is no doubt1 but that it did not fail in the one most essential point for a painter1 viz41 perception of colour1 is1 we think1 proved by his latest sketches in water-colour1 which show none of that apparently morbid love of yellow which appears in his later oil pictures1 and testify to that perfect perception of the relations and harmonies of different hues which can only belong to a healthy sight4 ,instead of declining1 this faculty of colour seems to have increased in perfection almost to the last4 ,if we compare the sketch in the ,national ,gallery of a scene on the ,lake of ,zug1 done between #ahdj and #ahde1 with one of the #8,rivers of ,england' ,dartmouth1 two drawings wonderfully alike in composition and in general scheme of colour1 no difference in this faculty can be observed2 the later drawing is only a few notes higher in the scale4 ,as ,mr4 ,ruskin says1 8,the work of the first five years of this decade is in many respects supremely and with reviving power1 beautiful40 ,but still the decline of his non-artistic mind1 never very powerful1 had been going on for years1 or at least such reasoning power as he possessed had exercised less and less control over the imperious will of his genius1 which impelled him to pursue his efforts to paint the unpaintable4 ,he had begun by imitation1 he had gone on by rivalry1 he had achieved a style of his own by which he had upset all preconceived notions of landscape painting1 and had triumphed in establishing the superiority of pictures painted in a light key1 but he was not content4 ,his progress had always been towards light even from the earliest days1 when he worked in monochrome4 ,sunlight was his discovery1 he had found its presence in shadow1 he had studied its complicated reflections1 before he commenced to work in colour4 ,from monochrome he had adopted the low scale of the old masters1 but into it he carried his light2 the brown clouds1 and shadows1 and mists1 had the sun behind them as it were in veiled splendour4 ,then it came out and flooded his drawings and his canvasses with a glory unseen before in art4 ,but he must go on--refine upon this--having eclipsed all others1 he must now eclipse himself4 ,his gold must turn to yellow1 and yellow almost into white1 before his genius could be satisfied with its efforts to express pure sunlight4 ,so he went on to his goal1 becoming less 8understanded of the people0 each year1 painting pictures more near to the truth of nature in sun and clouds1 and less true in everything else4 ,but it was about the everything else that the people most cared4 ,they did not care for sunlight which blinded them1 and to which the truth of figure1 and sea1 and grass1 and stone1 had to be sacrificed4 ,they liked pictures which could give them calm enjoyment1 records of what they had seen or could imagine1 not of what ,turner only had seen1 and what seemed to them extravagant falsity4 ,such1 roughly put1 was the condition of things when a champion arose to scatter ,turner's enemies to the four winds4 ,he1 ,mr4 ,ruskin 7#ahcf71 an undergraduate at ,oxford1 of the age of seventeen1 was one not of 8the people10 but of those comparatively few lovers of art and colour who saw and appreciated the artistic motives of ,turner1 and who reverenced1 as a revelation of hitherto unrecorded1 if not undiscovered1 beauties of nature1 those pictures at which the world scoffed4 ,we cannot here enter further into the discussion involved1 but the attitude of the two parties1 the one represented by 8,blackwood's ,magazine10 and the other by 8,modern ,painters10 can be judged by the following extracts4 ,the noble enthusiasm aroused by the treatment of ,juliet and her ,nurse by the critics1 had suggested a letter in #ahcf1 which gradually increased into a volume1 not published till #ahdc1 and in the meantime the undergraduate had gained the ,newdegate1 and earned the right to call himself 8,a ,graduate of ,oxford0 on his title-page4 ,this is what ,maga said in ,august1 #ahce1 of ,turner's picture of ,venice1 from the porch of ,madonna della ,salute1 a picture in his earlier ,venetian style3-- 8,venice1 well ,i have seen ,venice4 ,venice the magnificent1 glorious1 queenly1 even in her decay--with her rich coloured buildings1 speaking of days gone by1 reflected in the green water4 ,what is ,venice in this picture8 ,a flimsy1 whitewashed meagre assemblage of architecture1 starting off ghostlike into unnatural perspective1 as if frightened at the affected blaze of some dogger vessels 7the only attempt at richness in the picture74 ,not ,venice1 but the boat is the attractive object1 and what is to make this rich8 ,nothing but some green and red1 and yellow tinsel1 which is so flimsy that it is now cracking44444 ,the greater part of the picture is white1 disagreeable white1 without light or transparency1 and the boats1 with their red worsted masts1 are as gewgaw as a child's toy1 which he may have cracked to see what it was made of4 ,as to ,venice1 nothing can be more unlike its character40 ,illustration3 ,,venice4 ,,the ,,dogana4 ,in the ,national ,gallery4 ,this is what the ,graduate of ,oxford says1 after stating his dissatisfaction with the ,venices of ,canaletti1 ,prout1 and ,stanfield3-- 8,but let us take with ,turner1 the last and greatest step of all--thank ,heaven we are in sunshine again--and what sunshine6 ,not the lurid1 gloomy1 plaguelike oppression of ,canaletti1 but white flushing fulness of dazzling light1 which the waves drink and the clouds breathe1 bounding and burning in intensity of joy4 ,that sky--it is a very visible infinity--liquid1 measureless1 unfathomable1 panting and melting through the chasms in the long fields of snow-white flaked1 slow-moving vapour1 that guide the eye along the multitudinous waves down to the islanded rest of the ,euganean hills4 ,do we dream1 or does the white forked sail drift nearer1 and nearer yet1 diminishing the blue sea between us with the fulness of its wings8 ,it pauses now2 but the quivering of its bright reflection troubles the shadows of the sea1 those azure fathomless depths of crystal mystery1 on which the swiftness of the poised gondola floats double1 its black beak lifted like the crest of a dark ocean bird1 its scarlet draperies flashed back from the kindling surface1 and its bent oar breaking the radiant water into a dust of gold4 ,dreamlike and dim1 but glorious1 the unnumbered palaces lift their shafts out of the hollow sea--pale ranks of motionless flame--their mighty towers sent up to heaven like tongues of more eager fire--their grey domes looming vast and dark1 like eclipsed worlds--their sculptured arabesques and purple marble fading farther and fainter1 league beyond league1 lost in the light of distance4 ,detail after detail1 thought beyond thought1 you find and feel them through the radiant mystery1 inexhaustible as indistinct1 beautiful1 but never all revealed2 secret in fulness1 confused in symmetry1 as nature herself is to the bewildered and foiled glance1 giving out of that indistinctness1 and through that confusion1 the perpetual newness of the infinite and the beautiful4 8,yes1 ,mr4 ,turner1 we are in ,venice now40 ,unfortunately the brave young champion was too late1 the eloquent voice that could translate into such glowing words the dumb poetry of ,turner's pictures had scarcely made the air of ,england thrill with its musical enthusiasm when black night fell upon the artist4 ,the sudden snapping of some vital chord1 of which that same ,graduate of ,oxford only last year pathetically wrote1 took place1 and the glorious sun of his genius disappeared without any twilight2 he was dead as an artist1 and dying as a man4 ,neither his work nor his life could be defended any more4 ,but the voice that was raised so late in his honour did not die1 its vibrations have lasted from that day to this2 and if the champion himself seems to be in some need of a defender now1 if mouths that once were full of his praise are silent or raised only for the most part to depreciate1 it is only what came to ,turner and what comes to all who use their imagination too freely to enforce their convictions4 ,a time must come when the spirit of analysis will eat into the most brilliant rhetoric2 the false and true1 which combine to make the most beautiful fabric of words1 cannot wear equally well4 ,to us it is always painful to differ from ,mr4 ,ruskin1 to whom we owe the grasp of so many noble truths1 the memories of so many delightful hours2 and if a time has come when our faith in his dogmas is not absolute1 and we feel that he has misled us and others now and again1 we cannot close reference to him and his works in this little book without testifying to the great and noble spirit which pervades his work1 and recording our admiration of a life devoted to the service of art and man and ,god with a passionate purity as rare as it is beautiful4 ,illustration3 ,,venice1 ,,from ,,the ,,canal ,,of ,,the ,,giudecea4 ,exhibited in #ahdj4 ,south ,kensington ,museum4 ,but before night fell1 in the interval between #ahdj and #ahde1 ,turner painted a few pictures of remarkable beauty both in colour and sentiment--pictures which no other artist could have painted1 and which we doubt if he could himself have painted before--pictures generally attempting to realize his later ideal of ,venice1 which even now1 in their wrecked beauty1 fascinate all who have patience to look at them1 and watch the apparent chaos of yellow and white and purple and grey gradually clear into a vision of ghost-like palaces rising like a dream1 from the golden sea4 ,besides these he painted at least three others of unique power3 one a record of what few other men could have had the courage to study or the power to paint2 one showing the passion of despair at the loss of an old comrade2 and another the boldest attempt to represent abstract ideas in landscape that was ever made4 ,we allude to the ,snowstorm2 ,peace1 ,burial at ,sea2 and ,rain1 ,steam1 and ,speed4 ,mr4 ,hamerton says1 in connection with the first of these3-- 8,let it not be supposed that these works of ,turner's decline1 however they may have exercised the wit of critics1 and excited the amusement of visitors to the ,exhibition1 were ever anything less than serious performances for him4 ,the ,snowstorm1 for example 7#ahdb71 afforded the critics a precious opportunity for the exercise of their art4 ,they called it soapsuds and whitewash1 the real subject being a steamer in a storm off a harbour's mouth making signals1 and going by the lead4 ,in this instance1 nothing could be more serious than ,turner's intention1 which was to render a storm as he had himself seen it one night when the #8,ariel' left ,harwich4 ,like ,joseph ,vernet1 who1 when in a tempest off the island of ,sardinia1 had himself fastened to the mast to watch the effects1 ,turner on this occasion1 #8got the sailors to lash himself to the mast to observe it1' and remained in that position for four hours4 ,he did not expect to escape1 but had a curious sort of conscientious feeling1 that it was his duty to record his impression if he survived40#de ,of the second1 which was painted to commemorate ,wilkie's funeral1 it is related that ,stanfield complained of the blackness of the sails1 and that ,turner answered1 8,if ,i could find anything blacker than black ,i'd use it40#df ,the history of his late ,swiss sketches and the drawings he made from them has been recently told by ,mr4 ,ruskin in his valuable and interesting notes to his collection of ,turner's drawings exhibited last year 7#ahgh71 and these notes and the almost equally interesting notes of the ,rev4 ,w4 ,kingsley1 contained between the same covers1 testify not only to the supreme beauty of his later work1 but also to the nobler motive which inspired its production1 viz4 the desire to 8record0 as far as he could what he had seen after 8fifty years' observation40 ,the days of strife and emulation were over1 and a humbler1 sweeter spirit made him 8put forth his full strength to depict nature as he saw it with all his knowledge and experience40 ,characteristically1 as all through his life1 this better spirit showed itself rather in his water-colours made for private persons1 than in those oils which he exhibited for the judgment of the public4 ,we wish we had space here for ,mr4 ,ruskin's splendid description of ,turner's picture of ,slavers throwing overboard the ,dead and ,dying--a work which seems to us to illustrate what we have said of his manner of decline in a remarkable way4 ,there is no doubt about its splendour of colour1 the grandeur of its sea1 and the force with which its sentiment of horror and wrong and death is conveyed2 but it shows a childishness1 a want of mental faculties of the simplest kind1 which is all the more extraordinary when brought in contrast with such gigantic pictorial power4 ,the sharks are quite unnecessary1 the bodies in the water are too many1 the absurdity of the chains appearing above it is too gross2 the horror is overdone and melodramatic1 or1 in a word1 one of his finest pictorial conceptions is spoilt for want of a little common sense1 of a little power to place himself in relation to his fellows and see how it would appear to them4 ,again1 we cannot help wishing that he had had a friend at his elbow like ,stanfield1 who would have saved him from the laughter of small critics4 ,he was not fit to manage such a work on such a subject by himself4 ,in his picture of ,war--the ,exile and the ,rock-limpet1 with its extract from the 8,fallacies of ,hope0-- 8,ah6 thy tent-formed shell is like ,a soldier's nightly bivouac1 alone ,amidst a sea of blood 444 444,but can you join your comrades80 we see the same mental helplessness4 ,it verges on the sublime1 it verges on the ridiculous4 ,we should be sorry to call it either2 but it is childish--not with the grand simplicity of ,blake1 but with the confused complicity of ,turner4 ,mr4 ,ruskin says that ,turner tried in vain to make him understand the full meaning of this work1 and we are not surprised4 ,such pictures as these had occurred now and then all through his career--pictures in which the means employed were utterly inadequate to express the sentiment duly1 such as the ,waterloo1--pictures in which the accumulation of ideas was confused and excessive1 as the ,phryne going to the ,bath as ,venus1 ,demosthenes taunted by schines2 and he had shown some hazy symbolism in connection with shell-fish in these verses3-- 8,roused from his long contented cot he went ,where oft he laboured1 and the 444 bent1 ,to form the snares for lobsters armed in mail2 ,but men1 more cunning1 over this prevail1 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,slave ,,ship4 ,in the possession of ,miss ,alice ,hooper1 of ,boston1 ,u4,s4 ,lured by a few sea-snail and whelks1 a prey ,that they could gather on their watery way1 ,caught in a wicker cage not two feet wide1 ,while the whole ocean's open to their pride40 ,but now these 8failures10 for failures they were1 however fine the art qualities they possessed1 became chronic1 and the rule rather than the exception2 and this is to us the greatest tragedy in the whole of his career--the spectacle of a great painter1 the very slave of his genius1 compelled to paint this and paint that at its bidding without being able to distinguish between what was great and what was little1 what sublime and what ridiculous1 almost as mighty as ,milton and ,shelley one moment1 and as poor as ,blackmore or ,robert ,montgomery the next4 ,he appears to us in these last days like a great ship1 rudderless1 but still grand and with all sails set1 at the mercy of the wind1 which played with it a little while and then cast it on the rocks4 ,rudderless1 masterless1 was he also as a man4 ,we are very loth to believe the terrible picture of moral degradation supplied by the 8best authority0 to ,mr4 ,thornbury1 and quoted in the first chapter of this volume2 but there is no doubt that he lived by no means a reputable life in his old age4 ,as to how he met with ,mrs4 ,booth1 at whose little house by the side of the ,thames1 near ,cremorne1 he lived for some time before his death1 we have not cared to inquire1 nor do we intend to repeat the usual stories about it2 nor will we venture an opinion as to how often he took too much to drink or what was his favourite stimulant1 or what other excesses he committed4 ,his whole faculties had been absorbed in his art2 and when this failed him--when he became broken in health and failing in sight--he had no store of wise reflection to employ his mind1 no harmless pursuits to follow1 no refined tastes to amuse him1 nor1 as far as we know1 had he any hope of any future rectification of the unevennesses of this world4 ,some of his friends he had lost by death1 many were still living and ready to cheer his last years if he would have had them1 but he would not4 ,his secretiveness and love of solitude clung to him to the last4 ,he did not1 however1 lose his love of art and his desire of acquiring knowledge relating to it4 ,it was in these last years1 #ahdg-di1 that he paid several visits to the studio of ,mr4 ,mayall1 the celebrated photographic artist1 passing himself off as a ,master in ,chancery1 and taking very great interest in the development of the new process which had not then got beyond the daguerreotype4 ,to the interesting account of these visits printed by ,mr4 ,thornbury1#dg we are enabled by ,mr4 ,mayall's kindness to add that at a time when his finances were at a very low ebb in consequence of litigation about patent rights1 ,turner unasked1 brought him a roll of bank-notes1 to the amount of #cjj1 and gave it him on the understanding that he was to repay him if he could4 ,this1 ,mr4 ,mayall was able to do very soon1 but that does not lessen the generosity of ,turner's act4 ,notwithstanding1 however1 such bright glimpses as this1 his last years must have been sad and dull1 and his greatest source of happiness was probably the knowledge that whatever critics might say of his later works1 there were a few men like ,mr4 ,munro1 ,mr4 ,griffiths1 the ,ruskins1 father and son1 who appreciated them1 and that his earlier pictures not only kept up their fame but rose in price4 ,though in decline1 his fame was as great as almost he could have wished4 ,two offers of #ajj1jjj he is said to have refused for the contents of ,queen ,anne ,street2 #e1jjj for his two ,carthages4 ,the greatest of all his triumphs was perhaps when he was waited upon by ,mr4 ,griffiths1 with an offer from a distinguished ,committee1 among whom were ,sir ,robert ,peel1 ,lord ,hardinge1 and others1 to buy these pictures for the nation4 ,this is the greatest instance of his self-sacrifice1 which is well attested2 for he refused to part with them because he had willed them to the nation4 ,he might have got the money and his wish also1 but he refused4 ,the recollection of this1 though it occurred some years before he died1 should have afforded him some pleasant reflections4 ,it had been long known that ,turner had another home than that in ,queen ,anne ,street1 and he had shown considerable ingenuity in concealing it1 for he used to go out of an evening to dinner with his friends when he so willed1 and met them at the ,academy and other places4 ,almost to the last he could be merry and sociable at such gatherings1 and there is a very pleasant account of a dinner in #ahej at ,david ,roberts' house1 given in a note to ,ballantyne's life of that artist1 at which ,turner was4 ,it is a memorandum by an artist from the country1 and describes ,turner's manner as-- 8,very agreeable1 his quick bright eye sparkled1 and his whole countenance showed a desire to please4 ,he was constantly making or trying to make jokes2 his dress1 though rather old-fashioned1 was far from being shabby40 ,turner's health was proposed by an ,irish gentleman who had attended his lectures on perspective1 on which he complimented the artist4 8,turner made a short reply in a jocular way1 and concluded by saying1 rather sarcastically1 that he was glad this honourable gentleman had profited so much by his lectures as thoroughly to understand perspective1 for it was more than he did40 ,turner afterwards1 in ,roberts' absence1 took the chair1 and1 at ,stanfield's request1 proposed ,roberts' health1 which he did1 speaking hurriedly1 8but soon ran short of words and breath1 and dropped down on his chair with a hearty laugh1 starting up again and finishing with a #8hip1 hip1 hurrah6'4444 ,turner was the last who left1 and ,roberts accompanied him along the street to hail a cab4444 ,at this time ,turner was indulging in the singular freak of living1 under the name of ,mr4 ,booth1 in a small lodging on the banks of the ,thames4444 ,this1 though now cleared up1 was a mystery to his friends then1 and ,roberts was anxious to unravel it4 ,when the cab drove up he assisted ,turner to his seat1 shut the door1 and asked where he should tell cabby to take him2 but ,turner was not to be caught1 and1 with a knowing wink1 replied1 #8,tell him to drive to ,oxford ,street1 and then ,i'll direct him where to go4'0 ,turner not only kept his secret from his friends1 but from ,mrs4 ,danby1 who1 says ,mr4 ,thornbury-- 8,one day1 as she was brushing an old coat of ,turner's1 in turning out a pocket1 she found and pounced on a letter directed to him1 and written by a friend who lived at ,chelsea4 ,mrs4 ,danby1 it appears1 came to the conclusion that ,turner himself was probably at ,chelsea1 and went there to seek for him1 in company with another infirm old woman4 ,from inquiries in a place by the river-side1 where gingerbread was sold1 they came to the conclusion that ,turner was living in a certain small house close by1 and informed a ,mr4 ,harpur1#dh whom she and ,turner knew4 ,he went to the place and found the painter sinking4 ,this was on the #ahth of ,december1 #ahea1 and on the following day ,turner died40 ,so died the great solitary genius1 ,turner1 the first of all men to endeavour to paint the full power of the sun1 the greatest imagination that ever sought expression in landscape1 the greatest pictorial interpreter of the elemental forces of nature1 that ever lived4 ,his life1 and character1 and art1 complex as they were in their manifestation1 were as simple in motive as those of the most ordinary man4 ,art1 fame1 and money were what he strived for from the beginning to the end of his days1 and those days were embittered at the end by fallacies of hope with regard to all three4 ,critics laughed at him1 he was given no social honour1 7neither knighted nor made ,president of the ,royal ,academy71 and his money was useless4 ,for the meanness and isolation of his existence he had no one to thank but himself1 but this was also1 as we hope we have shown in the course of these pages1 the natural result of the motives of his life4 ,illustration3 ,,the ,,room ,,in ,,which ,,turner ,,died4 ,the nobleness of his life consisted in his devotion to landscape art1 and this should cover many sins4 ,he found it sunk very low3 he left it raised to a height which it had never attained before4 ,that he could have done this by painting falsely is absurd4 ,the falsity of his works is just of that kind which comes from almost infinite knowledge of truth4 ,he knew little else but art and nature1 and he knew these by heart4 ,he could make nature1 and this confidence in his creative power led him sometimes into strange errors1 which no one else could have made1 such as putting the sun and moon in impossible positions in the same picture1 and making boats sail in opposite directions before the wind2 but how much more truth of natural phenomena has he not given even in such pictures than can be found in any literal transcript of nature6 ,his colour appears to many to be untrue2 but this is greatly due to his clinging from first to last to one central truth--the sun4 ,it was that which gave the pitch to his light1 and his colour too1 as in nature4 ,to that great light all must be subservient2 it is not the local colour of an object in the foreground1 or the strength of shade of a particular cave1 that controls the chiaroscuro and colouring of nature1 but the sun4 ,so all things were sacrificed to this2 the green must go from the grass1 and the shadows must become scarlet1 rather than this truth should be lost4 ,his preference for harmonies of blue1 red1 and yellow1 to the exclusion of green1 never giving1 as ,mr4 ,leslie pointed out1 the 8verdure0 of ,england1 is remarkable2 he is the only artist we know who1 instead of the usual 8bit of red10 to correct the green of a landscape1 introduces a bit of 8green0 7generally harsh crude green71 to correct its too great redness4 7,see1 for instance1 the apron of the woman in the left-hand corner of his drawing of ,rouen ,cathedral for the 8,rivers of ,france407 ,his constant fault1 and1 as we think1 an inexcusable one1 is the careless drawing of his figures4 ,it is not an excuse to say that they must not be painted so as to draw attention from the landscape2 first1 because ,turner in his earlier pictures showed that he could introduce well-finished figures without doing this2 and secondly1 because ,turner's figures in his later pictures do this by their badness4 ,this carelessness gradually grew on him1 because he would not take pains with them4 ,he could draw very small figures very well1 giving more spirit and essence than any other artist1 in a touch4 ,he could indicate a shamble1 a strut1 a march1 lassitude1 confidence1 any physical or mental quality of a figure as easily as he could a bough or a cloud2 but when he had to draw a figure to which time must be given1 to perfect a definite1 complex1 organized form1 he scamped it4 ,his indication of the spirit of animals is often wonderful1 as in the deer in ,arundel ,park1 and the dogs in ,troyes4 ,of ,turner's mind and character apart from his art not much can be said in praise4 ,the former we have already said so much about that we need only say here that although not of a very high order1 except in sensibility and perception1 he showed now and then capacities which might have been turned to good account by more generous training4 ,although his jokes were mainly practical1 or of that kind which is understood by the term 8waggery20 a few good things which he said have been reported1 such for instance as that 8indistinctness was his forte20 and though his poetry is generally miserable1 it here and there contains a fine expression4 ,it is remarkable1 however1 how both his wit1 and what is good in his poetry1 are connected with his art4 ,he never said a thing worth recording about anything else1 and the few good bits in his poetry are all reflections of a pictorial image4 ,the utter helplessness of his mind1 when he tried to put his reasoning into words1 is shown by ,mr4 ,hamerton1 in one wonderful extract4 7,see his 8,life of ,turner10 p4 #adc47 ,we do not wonder that his attempts at teaching 7though he is said at one time in his youth to have got as much as a guinea a lesson7 and his lectures as a professor of perspective were failures4 ,as to his character1 it was mainly negative1 on all points except art and money4 ,the best part of it was the tenderness of his heart2 but though we have no doubt about this fact1 or that he could occasionally in his later years be generous even in money1#di this does not raise our opinion of him much1 for he had more than he wished to spend4 ,if he was remarkable for kind and generous impulses1 he was still more remarkable for the success with which he1 in general1 controlled them4 ,we cannot dispute ,mr4 ,ruskin's assertion that he never 8failed in an undertaken trust10 but we have yet to learn that he ever undertook one4 ,if it be really true that1 unasked and without any question of repayment1 he gave a sum of many thousand pounds on more than one occasion to the son of one of his friends and patrons1 such an act deserves more accurate record and complete proof4 ,the money was repaid in both cases1 it is said4 ,he showed his best disposition in his kindness to children and animals1 and his fellow-artists4 ,of the last he always spoke kindly1 and to young or old was ever just and kind and patient4 ,poor ,haydon said that he 8did him justice20 he assisted many a young man with a useful hint1 and once took down one of his pictures at the ,academy to find a place for one of an unknown man4 ,he took great interest in the founding of the ,artists' ,benevolent ,fund1 and meant his accumulated wealth to be spent in a home for decayed artists4 ,there is no doubt that long before he died he felt the uselessness of wealth and a desire to dispose of his own in a good way4 ,the only proof we have of his notions of a good way is his will1 and that1 as we have already said1 is not an unselfish document1 and the codicils which he added to it from #ahca to #ahdi do not show any increase of unselfishness4 ,on the contrary1 he revoked his legacies to his uncles and cousins1 and left his finished pictures to form a ,turner ,gallery1 and money to found a ,turner medal and a monument to himself in ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral4 ,the will and its codicils were so confused that all the legal ability of ,england was unable to decide what ,turner really wanted to be done with his money1 and after years of miserable litigation1 during which a large portion of it was wasted in legal expenses1 a compromise was effected1 in which the wishes of the parties to the suits and others concerned1 including the nation and the ,royal ,academy1 were consulted rather than the wishes of the testator3 his desire to found a charity for decayed artists1 the only thing upon which his mind seems to have been fixed from first to last in these puzzled documents1 was over--thrown1 and his next of kin1 the only persons mentioned in his will whom he certainly did not mean to get a farthing1 got the bulk of the property 7excepting the pictures74 ,we have no doubt it was quite right2 we are very glad the nation got all the pictures and drawings1 finished and unfinished1 and the ,royal ,academy #bj1jjj2 that there are a ,turner medal and a ,turner ,gallery1 and we think that the next of kin should have had a great deal of his money3 but surely the greatest fallacy of all ,turner's hope was that his will would be construed according to his intentions4 ,two of his wishes with regard to himself were1 however1 fully carried out--his desire to be buried in ,st4 ,paul's and the expenditure of #a1jjj on his monument4 ,his funeral was conducted with considerable pomp and ceremony1 his 8gifted talents10 to use his own words1 8acknowledged by the many10 and many of his fellow-artists and admirers followed him to the grave2 nor amongst the crowd were wanting a few old friends who in their hearts still cherished him as 8dear old ,turner40 ,illustration3 8,,datur ,,bora ,,quieti40 ,illustration3 decorative bar ,,index4 7,the ,names of ,paintings and ,drawings are printed in ,italics47 ,page ,academy1 ,royal1 ,school of1 #ae ,academy ,club1 #ajh ,academy1 in ,st4 ,martin's ,lane1 #ac ,academy1 in ,soho1 #ae ,almanacks1 drawings for1 #dg ,alps at ,daybreak1 #aac ,apollo and ,python1 #fg1 #ajg ,apuleia and ,apuleius1 #fi1 #gf1 #ic ,army of the ,medes1 #di ,artists' ,benevolent ,fund1 #aci ,arundel ,park1 #acg ,banks of the ,loire1 #aaa ,basire1 #dd ,battle of the ,nile1 #di ,bay of ,bai1 #ig ,bible1 ,illustrations of1 ,finden's1 #ih1 #ii ,birmingham1 #cc 8,blackwood's ,magazine01 #abd ,bonneville1 #ec ,booth1 ,mrs41 #aca ,boswell's 8,antiquities01 #ad 8,britannia ,depicta01 #dg ,britton1 ,john1 #bb ,burnet1 ,john1 #ej ,burning of the ,houses of ,lords and ,commons1 #aah ,bushey1 #ah1 #bc ,buttermere1 ,lake1 #da ,byron1 ,illustrations to1 #ih ,calais ,pier1 #ec ,caligula's ,palace and ,bridge1 #ig ,canaletti1 #aad ,carthage1 #gj ,carthage1 ,decline of1 #ic ,carthage1 ,dido building1 #ic1 #aac ,chantrey1 #ajh1 #aji1 #aaj1 #aab ,chateau de ,st4 ,michel1 #ec1 #ed ,chester1 #cc ,childe ,harold's ,pilgrimage1 #ig ,chryses1 #dh ,claude ,lorrain1 #ej1 #fa1 #fc1 #aac ,collins1 ,wilkie--,description of ,turner1 #aba ,cologne1 #ii1 #ajg ,composition1 ,turner's method1 #aje1 #ajf ,constable's ,opening of ,waterloo ,bridge1 #ajj ,constable's ,whitehall ,stairs1 #ajj ,continent1 ,second ,tour on the1 #gf ,cooke1 ,dispute with1 #eh1 #aja ,letter from1 #aja1 c4 8,copper-plate ,magazine10 drawings for1 #cb ,cozens1 ,j41 #ba1 #bf1 #bg1 #fg ,crossing the ,brook1 #hj1 #hd1 #ic1 #id ,crowle1 ,mr41 early patron of ,turner1 #ad1 #af ,danby1 ,mrs41 #acd ,daniell1 #bf ,dartmouth1 #abb ,datur hora quieti1 #aac ,dayes1 #bf1 #bh ,de ,loutherbourg1 #bg1 #ch1 #ci1 #di1 #hf ,devonshire1 ,tour in1 #gi ,dido and neas1 #ic ,dragons1 #gj-gd ,eastlake1 ,sir ,charles1 #hc ,edridge1 #ae1 #bc1 #bg ,egglestone ,abbey1 #id ,egremont1 ,lord1 #gf1 #ajh1 #aji1 #aaj 8,england and ,wales01 #ajd ,engravings coloured at ,brentford1 #ad ,exeter1 ,turner's visit to1 #hd ,fall of the ,rhine at ,schaffhausen1 #ec 8,fallacies of ,hope01 #acj ,falls in ,valombr--,illustration of 8,jacqueline01 #aad ,farnley1 #de1 #df1 #ajh ,fawkes1 #dd1 #de1 #gf1 #aab ,festival of the ,vintage of ,macon1 #ec ,fifth ,plague1 #di ,finden's ,illustrations of the ,bible1 #ih1 #ii ,fishermen at ,sea1 #cd ,fishermen ,coming ,ashore1 #cd1 #ce ,fishing ,boats in a ,squall1 #ej ,fonthill1 drawings of1 #dh ,frosty ,morning1 #hi ,funeral of ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence1 #aaa ,gainsborough1 #bc1 #bd1 #bg1 #ch ,gawthorpe1 drawing of1 #de ,girtin1 #ae1 #ba1 #bc1 #bd1 #bf1 #bg1 #bh ,glacier and ,source of the ,arvron1 #ec ,glover1 #bg ,goddess of ,discord1 #eb1 #gb ,greene1 ,thomas 7extract from ,diary71 #ce ,griffiths1 #acb1 #acc ,hakewills1 ,the1 #aji ,hakewill's 8,picturesque ,tour0--,illustrations to1 #ih1 #ii1 #ajc ,hamerton1 #ca1 #ci1 #dh1 #ajd1 #abh ,hammersmith1 ,turner's life at1 #hf ,hand ,court1 ,turner's ,studio in1 #cb ,hannibal ,crossing the ,alps1 #ff1 #gf ,harbour of ,dieppe1 #ii ,hardinge1 ,lord1 #acc ,hardwick1 ,architect1 #ae1 #be ,harpur1 ,henry1 executor1 #h ,harpur1 ,mrs4 ,turner's aunt1 #h ,harrison1 employed by1 #cb ,haydon1 #aci ,hearne1 #ae1 #bc1 #bf ,heath1 ,c41 #aji ,helvoetsluys1 #ajj ,henderson1 ,mr41 #af1 #bf1 #bh ,heysham ,village1 #id ,higham1 ,t41 #id ,hornby ,castle1 #fd1 #id ,howard 7,r4,a471 ,portrait by1 at ,heston1 #hh ,hunt1 ,w41 #ae ,italy1 ,first ,visit to1 #ib ,italy1 ,picturesque ,tour of1 ,hakewill's1 #ih1 #ii1 #ajc ,jason1 #dh1 #gd ,johns1 ,ambrose1 #hc ,jones1 #ajh ,letter to1 #aji1 #aab ,juliet and her ,nurse1 #aah1 #abd ,jumiges1 #aaf ,kingsley1 ,rev4 ,w41 ,notes of1 #abi ,lambeth1 ,archbishop's ,palace at1 #cb ,lawrence1 ,sir ,thomas1 ,turner's generosity to1 #ii ,lawrence1 ,sir ,thomas1 death of1 #aaa ,lectures on perspective1 #acc1 #ach ,leslie's ,autobiographical ,recollections1 #ajj ,lewis1 ,engraver1 quarrel with ,turner1 #eg 8,liber ,studiorum01 #eb1 #ee1 #ff1 #hi1 #ajg ,light-towers of the ,hve1 #aae ,little ,devil's ,bridge1 #fb ,loretto ,necklace1 #aaa ,lowson1 ,newby1 #bb ,maiden ,lane1 #aj ,malton1 ,thoma1 #ae1 #bj1 #be ,margate ,church1 early drawing of1 #ac ,margate1 ,school at1 #ae ,marlow1 #bc ,marshall1 ,mother's maiden name1 #f ,marshall1 ,uncle1 #h1 #ac 8,mawman's ,tour01 #dg ,mayall1 ,mr41 #acb ,mercury and ,argus1 #aah ,messieurs les ,voyageurs on their return from ,italy1 #aaa ,miller1 ,t41 #bc 8,modern ,painters01 #abd ,monro1 ,dr41 #ae1 #ah1 #bc1 #bd1 #be1 #bg1 #aab ,moonlight1 #cd ,morland1 #bg1 #ch ,morning on the ,coniston ,fells1 #da ,munro of ,novar1 #aah1 #acb ,narcissus and ,echo1 #dh ,narraway1 #ah1 #cb ,national ,gallery1 ,drawing in1 #id ,neptune's ,trident1 #ajc ,norham ,castle1 #da ,orvieto1 #aaj1 #aaa ,ovid's 8,metamorphoses01 #ff1 #fh1 #fi1 #ajh ,oxford1 ,pictures of1 #hf ,oxford1 ,scene near1 early drawing1 #ad ,palice1 ,mr41 ,drawing ,master1 #ae ,pantheon1 ,after ,fire1 #cd ,peace1 ,burial at ,sea1 #abh ,pearce1 ,miss1 #hc ,peel1 ,sir ,robert1 #acc ,pembury ,mill1 #fb ,perspective1 ,professor of1 #ge ,petworth1 #gf1 #ajh1 #aji ,phryne1 #acj ,pindar1 ,peter1 #hb ,pine1 #bc 8,pocket ,magazine10 drawings for1 #cb ,poetry1 ,turner's1 #fg1 #fh ,porden1 #ae1 #af ,poussin1 ,nicolas1 #fc 8,provincial ,antiquities10 ,illustrations to1 #ib ,pye1 ,john1 #id ,radcliffe1 ,engraver1 #id ,rain1 ,steam1 and ,speed1 #abh ,rawlinson's 8,turner's ,liber ,studiorum01 #fj ,redcliffe ,church1 ,bristol1 #hd ,redding1 ,cyrus1 #gh1 #hb ,reeve1 ,lovell1 description of ,turner when young1 #ca ,reynolds1 ,sir ,joshua1 #be ,richmond1 #id 8,richmondshire1 ,dr4 ,whitaker's ,history of01 #id ,rising ,squall1 #cd ,ritchie1 ,leitch1 #aaf 8,rivers of ,england01 #id1 #if 8,rivers of ,france01 #aae1 #aaf ,roberts1 ,david1 #bc1 #acc ,rogers1 ,illustrations to1 #ii1 #aac1 #aad ,rome1 #aji1 #aaj ,rome1 from the ,vatican1 #ig ,rooker1 #bc ,rouen ,cathedral1 #acg ,ruskin1 ,j41 #ci1 #dj1 #dh1 #fa1 #gc1 #aba1 #abb1 #abd1 #acb ,ruskin1 ,j41 his ,collection of ,turner's ,drawings1 #id1 #abi ,sandycombe ,lodge1 #he1 #hf1 #aja ,st4 ,vincent's ,rocks1 ,bristol1 ,view near1 #cd ,sandby1 ,paul1 #bc ,sandby1 ,tom1 #bc ,school1 ,first1 at ,new ,brentford1 #ac ,scott1 ,sir ,walter1 #ib1 #ii ,shaw1 ,dr41 #h ,shipwreck1 ,the1 #ej1 #ed ,slave ,ship1 ,the1 #abi ,smith1 ,john ,raphael1 #ae1 #bc ,snowstorm1 #abh ,society of ,artists1 #ac ,solus ,lodge1 #hf ,solway ,moss1 #fb 8,southern ,coast01 #dg1 #hd1 #ii ,spithead1 #ed ,stanfield1 #abj1 #abh ,sun rising through ,vapour1 #ed1 #aac ,switzerland1 ,sketches in1 #ed ,tmraire1 ,the ,fighting1 #aah ,temple of ,jupiter1 #ic ,tenth ,plague1 #di ,thomson1 of ,duddingstone1 #ib ,tomkison1 #ac1 #af ,tornaro1 #aac ,totnes1 #id ,townley1 #de ,trimmer 7,vicar of ,heston71 #hf1 #hg1 #hh1 #ia1 #aja1 #ajh1 #aaa ,trimmer1 ,miss1 attachment of ,turner to1 #hi1 #ij ,troyes1 #acg 8,turner's ,cribs01 #he 8,turner ,gallery0 in ,harley ,street and ,queen ,anne ,street1 #he 8,turner and ,girtin's ,picturesque ,views01 #cb ,turner's ,gift1 #gh1 #aab ,turner1 ,charles1 engraver1 quarrel with ,turner1 #eh ,turner1 ,price1 uncle1 #hd ,turner1 ,thomas ,price1 first cousin1 #hd ,ulysses and ,polyphemus1 #gj1 #ajg ,vandevelde1 #bh1 #ej ,varley1 #bc1 #bd ,varnishing days1 #ii1 #ajh ,venice1 ,first pictures of1 #aad ,sketches in ,national ,gallery1 #aad ,venice from ,madonna della ,salute1 #abd ,venice1 later pictures of1 #abf ,venus and ,adonis1 #eb ,vergil1 #gj ,vignettes1 #aac ,vision1 from 8,voyage of ,columbus01 #aad ,wales1 ,first ,tour in1 #cb ,walker1 ,j41 #cb ,war1 the ,exile and the ,rock ,limpet1 #acj ,warkworth ,castle1 #dc ,waterloo1 #acj ,watts1 ,alaric1 #bc1 #ca ,wedmore's 8,essay on ,girtin01 #bd ,wells1 ,w4 ,f41 #ah1 #ee1 #aab ,westminster ,abbey1 early drawing of1 #ad 8,whalley1 ,parish of10 drawings for1 #da ,what you ,will1 #ig ,wheeler1 ,mrs41 #ah ,whitaker1 ,dr41 #da1 #dd ,wilkie1 ,sir ,d41 #aab1 #abh ,will1 ,turner's1 #aab1 #aci1 #adj ,wilson1 #bc1 #bg1 #ch1 #di ,wolcot1 ,dr41 #hb ,wreck of the ,minotaur1 #ej ,wyatt1 ,print ,publisher1 of ,oxford1 #hf ,wycliffe1 #id ,yorkshire1 ,tour in1 #cd1 #dj ,,chronology ,,of ,,turner',s ,,life4 ,date4 ,page #agge4 ,born1 #bcrd ,april #f #aghd4 ,drawing of ,margate ,church #ac #aghe4 ,goes to ,school at ,brentford #ae #aghi4 ,student of ,royal ,academy #cb #agia4 ,first exhibits at ,royal ,academy #cb #agib4 ,first ,tour in ,wales #cb #agib4 ,studio in ,hand ,court #cb #agid4 ,first engraving from ,turner published #cb #agic or #agig4 ,first exhibits in oil #cd #agid4 ,noticed by the ,press #cd #agig4 ,tour in the ,north of ,england #dj #agii4 ,elected ,a4,r4,a4 #ci #agii4 ,removes to ,harley ,street #ge #ahjj4 ,visits ,scotland #ec #ahja or #ahjb4 ,first ,tour on ,continent #ec #ahjb4 ,elected ,r4,a4 #ci #ahjd4 ,second ,tour on ,continent #gf #ahje4 ,paints ,the ,shipwreck #ej #ahjg4 ,commences 8,liber ,studiorum0 #ee #ahjh4 ,professor of ,perspective--,takes ,house at ,hammersmith #ge #ahaa4 ,exhibits ,apollo and the ,python #fg #ahaa or #ahab4 ,visits ,devonshire #gi #ahab4 ,town address changed to ,queen ,anne ,street #ge #ahad4 ,goes to ,twickenham #ge #ahad4 ,commences ,southern ,coast #hd #ahae4 ,exhibits ,crossing the ,brook and ,dido ,building ,carthage #ic #ahai4 ,first visit to ,italy #ib #ahbc4 8,history of ,richmondshire0 published #id #ahbd4 8,rivers of ,england0 published #id #ahbc4 ,exhibits ,bay of ,bai #ig #ahbf4 ,leaves ,twickenham #aja #ahbg4 ,quarrels with ,cooke #aja #ahbg4 8,england and ,wales0 commenced #ajd #ahbh4 ,visits ,rome #aji #ahbi4 ,exhibits ,ulysses deriding ,polyphemus #ajg #ahcj4 ,death of his ,father #aaa #ahcj4 ,illustrations to ,rogers's 8,italy0 published #aac #ahca4 ,makes his ,will #aab #ahcc4 ,exhibits first ,venetian ,picture #aad #ahcc4 8,rivers of ,france0 commenced #aae #ahci4 ,exhibits ,fighting ,tmraire #aah #ahdc4 ,publication of 8,modern ,painters0 #abd #ahea4 ,death #acd ,illustration3 decoration 99 99 99 99 99 ,typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber3 ,the ,fighting ,temeraire ,the ,fighting ,tmraire pg #a ,similiar stories could ,similar stories could pg #bb ,glacier and ,source of the ,arveron ,glacier and ,source of the ,arvron pg #ec ,yours must truly1 ,yours most truly1 pg #aaj 99 99 99 99 99 ,,footnotes3 #a 8,absalom and ,achitophel40 #b ,mr4 ,cyrus ,redding met him there in #ahab1 and ,sir ,charles ,eastlake then or after then4 ,there is no engraved drawing by him from ,devonshire till the ,southern ,coast1 which began in #ahad1 or picture1 till the ,crossing of the ,brook1 exhibited in #ahae4 #c ,mr4 ,thornbury treats this as an absurd tradition1 but it is supported by an account given by ,dr4 ,shaw of an interview between him and the artist1 and printed by ,mr4 ,t4 pp4 #cah1 #cai4 8,may ,i ask you if you are the ,mr4 ,turner who visited at ,shelford ,manor1 in the county of ,nottingham1 in your youth80 8,i am10 he answered4 ,on being further questioned as to whether his mother's name was ,marshall1 he grew very angry1 and accused his visitor of taking 8an unwarrantable liberty10 but was pacified by an apology1 and invited ,dr4 ,shaw to give him 8the favour of a visit0 whenever he came to town4 #d ,he was called 8,william0 at home4 #e ,see 8,notes and ,queries10 #bnd series1 v4 #dge1 for the true version of this story4 #f ,wornum4 #g ,dr4 ,thomas ,monro1 of ,bushey and ,adelphi ,terrace1 physician of ,bridewell and ,bethlehem ,hospitals1 a well-known lover of art and patron of ,edridge1 ,girtin1 ,turner1 ,w4 ,hunt1 and other young artists4 ,he erected monuments at ,bushey ,church to ,edridge and ,hearne4 #h ,this gentleman is described by ,mr4 ,thornbury as ,mr4 ,harraway1 a fishmonger in ,broadway4 #i ,this took place in #ahcf4 #aj ,mr4 ,john ,britton1 publisher1 and author of 8,beauties of ,wiltshire10 c41 c4 #aa ,perhaps the ,earl of ,essex4 #ab ,see ,memoir prefixed to 8,liber ,fluviorum40 #ac 8,turner and ,girtin's ,picturesque ,views10 ,london1 #ahed4 #ad ,see also ,mr4 ,wedmore's interesting essay on ,girtin for a story about ,turner and ,girtin's drawing of the ,white ,house at ,chelsea4 #ae ,whether father or son does not appear4 #af ,down to #ahea the ,exhibition1 in common parlance1 always meant the ,exhibition of the ,royal ,academy4 #ag ,his first exhibited oil picture1 according to ,mr4 ,s4 ,redgrave4 ,see 8,dictionary of ,artists of the ,english ,school40 #ah ,according to most accounts his first exhibited oil picture4 #ai ,see ,whitaker's 8,parish of ,whalley10 vol4 ii4 p4 #ahc4 #bj ,see also ,willis's 8,current ,notes0 for ,jan4 #aheb4 #ba ,in a letter from ,andrew ,caldwell to ,bishop ,percy1 dated #adth ,june1 #ahjb1 printed by ,nicholls in his 8,illustrations of the ,literary ,history of the ,eighteenth ,century10 vol4 viii4 p4 #dc1 ,turner is spoken of as beating 8,loutherbourg and every other artist all to nothing40 8,a painter of my acquaintance1 and a good judge1 declares his pencil is magic2 that it is worth every landscape-painter's while to make a pilgrimage to see and study his works4 ,loutherbourg1 he used to think of so highly1 appears now mediocre40 #bb ,the names of these pictures are given as printed in the ,catalogue4 #bc ,rawlinson4 #bd ,see saying of ,turner's reported by ,mr4 ,halstead1 and printed in note in ,mr4 ,rawlinson's 8,turner's ,liber ,studiorum1 ,macmillan and ,co41 #ahgh10 from which excellent work most of the above information is derived4 #be ,not issued till the #ajth part1 or over five years from the publication of the first4 #bf ,only a portion of it1 the picture4 #bg ,the only picture exhibited at the ,academy by this artist4 ,it was called ,a ,landscape1 with ,hannibal in his ,march over the ,alps1 showing to his ,army the ,fertile ,plains of ,italy4 ,as its year of exhibition was #aggf1 it would be interesting to learn where ,turner saw this picture4 ,where is it now8 ,our information on the subject is derived from ,redgrave's 8,century of ,painters40 #bh ,thornbury1 p4 #bcf4 #bi ,he became ,professor of ,perspective to the ,royal ,academy in this year4 #cj ,turner seems to have paid a visit to the ,continent in #ahjd1 as ,mr4 ,thornbury refers to some powerful water-colour ,swiss scenes of #ahjd at ,farnley1 p4 #bdj4 #ca ,there is no record of a visit by ,turner to the ,isle of ,man4 #cb ,wordsworth's 8,elegiac ,stanzas10 suggested by a picture of #8,peele ,castle in a storm1' painted by ,sir ,george ,beaumont4 #cc 8,past ,celebrities10 by ,cyrus ,redding1 vol4 i4 #cd ,thornbury1 p4 #aeb4 #ce ,see ,wornum1 8,turner ,gallery10 p4 xv41 for a ,catalogue of ,turner's ,gallery in #ahji4 #cf ,he is said to have been his own architect for both houses4 #cg ,see ,thornbury1 p4 #bbd4 #ch ,see ,thornbury1 p4 #bbc4 #ci ,called in the ,catalogue ,whitehall ,stairs1 ,june #ahth1 #ahag4 #dj ,helvoetsluys3 the ,city of ,utrecht1 #fd1 going to sea4 #da ,turner had a picture of the same subject in another room4 ,the two artists had agreed together that each should paint it4 #db ,leslie's 8,autobiographical ,recollections10 vol4 i4 pp4 #bjb1 #bjc4 #dc ,they are printed as given by ,thornbury4 #dd ,in his first will he only leaves two pictures to the ,nation1 the ,sun ,rising through ,mist and the ,carthage1 and on condition that they were to be hung side by side with the great ,claudes4 #de ,hamerton1 pp4 #bhf-hg4 #df ,ibid41 p4 #bib4 #dg ,thornbury1 pp4 #cdi-ea4 #dh ,mr4 ,harpur1 the grandson of the sister of his mother1 one of his executors4 #di ,we are informed by ,mr4 ,j4 ,beavington ,atkinson1 to whom we are indebted for other interesting facts in connection with ,turner1 that he was not ungrateful to his early friends1 the ,narraways of ,bristol1 but supplied them from time to time with sums of money1 and that at his death there was a sum owing by one of the family who wished to repay it1 but was informed by the executors that ,turner had left no record of any such debt4