,transcriber's ,note3 ,every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible1 including non-standard spelling and punctuation4 ,some changes of spelling and punctuation have been made4 ,they are listed at the end of the text4 ,italic text has been marked with underscores4 ,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour ,,edited ,,by - - ,t4 ,,leman ,,hare ,,turner #agge-ahea ,,masterpieces ,,in ,,colour ,,series ,,artist4 ,,author4 ,,velazquez4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,reynolds4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,turner4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,romney4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,greuze4 ,,alys ,,eyre ,,macklin4 ,,botticelli4 ,,henry ,b4 ,,binns4 ,,rossetti4 ,,lucien ,,pissarro4 ,,bellini4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,fra ,,angelico4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,rembrandt4 ,,josef ,,israels4 ,,leighton4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,raphael4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,holman ,,hunt4 ,,mary ,e4 ,,coleridge4 ,,titian4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,millais4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,carlo ,,dolci4 ,,george ,,hay4 ,,gainsborough4 ,,max ,,rothschild4 ,,tintoretto4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,luini4 ,,james ,,mason4 ,,franz ,,hals4 ,,edgcumbe ,,staley4 ,,van ,,dyck4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,leonardo ,,da ,,vinci4 ,m4 ,w4 ,,brockwell4 ,,rubens4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,whistler4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,,holbein4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,burne-,,jones4 ,a4 ,,lys ,,baldry4 ,,vig,e ,,le ,,brun4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,chardin4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,,fragonard4 ,c4 ,,haldane ,,macfall4 ,,memlinc4 ,w4 ,h4 ,j4 ,j4 ,c4 ,,weale4 ,,constable4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,raeburn4 ,,james ,l4 ,,caw4 ,,john ,s4 ,,sargent4 ,t4 ,,martin ,,wood4 ,,lawrence4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,d,,rer4 ,h4 ,e4 ,a4 ,,furst4 ,,millet4 ,,percy ,m4 ,,turner4 ,,watteau4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,hogarth4 ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind4 ,,murillo4 ,s4 ,l4 ,,bensusan4 ,,watts4 ,w4 ,,loftus ,,hare4 ,,ingres4 ,a4 ,j4 ,,finberg4 ,,corot4 ,,sidney ,,allnutt4 ,,delacroix4 ,,paul ,g4 ,,konody4 ,others in ,preparation4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,i4--,a ,,ship ,,aground4 ,from the oil painting by ,turner in the ,tate ,gallery4 7,frontispiece7 ,this beautiful sea piece is essentially ,turner--the result of his personal observation4 ,it was painted after he had freed himself from the desire to rival and outvie his predecessors1 and before he became obsessed by the passion to paint pure sunlight4 ,a ,ship ,aground is a pendant to ,the ,old ,chain ,pier1 ,brighton1 which also hangs in the ,tate ,gallery4 ,,turner ,,five ,,letters ,,and ,a ,,postscript ,,by ,c4 ,,lewis ,,hind ,,illustrated ,,with ,,eight ,,reproductions ,,in ,,colour ,illustration3 ,,in ,,sempiternum4 ,,london3 ,t4 ,c4 ,e4 ,c4 ,,jack ,,new ,,york3 ,,frederick ,a4 ,,stokes ,,co4 ,,contents ,,letter ,i ,page ,explanatory #aa ,,letter ,,ii ,his ,life3 ,an ,impression #bf ,,letter ,,iii ,his ,art3 ,the ,furnace ,doors ,open #da ,,letter ,,iv ,the ,flame ,ascends #dh ,,letter ,v ,the ,flame ,leaps1 ,expands1 and ,expires #fb ,,postscript ,turner and ,two ,others #gb ,,list ,,of ,,illustrations ,plate ,i4 ,a ,ship ,aground ,frontispiece ,from the ,oil ,painting by ,turner in the ,tate ,gallery ,page ,,ii4 ,hastings #ad ,from the ,oil ,painting by ,turner in the ,tate ,gallery ,,iii4 ,norham ,castle #bd ,from the ,oil ,painting by ,turner in the ,tate ,gallery ,,iv4 ,the ,fighting ,tmraire #cd ,from the ,oil ,painting by ,turner in the ,national ,gallery ,v4 ,venice3 ,grand ,canal 7,sunset7 #dj ,from the ,water-,colour by ,turner in the ,national ,gallery ,,vi4 ,arth from the ,lake of ,zug #ej ,from the ,water-,colour by ,turner in the ,national ,gallery ,,vii4 ,lausanne #fj ,from the ,water-,colour by ,turner in the ,national ,gallery ,,viii4 ,tivoli #gj ,from the ,oil ,painting by ,turner in the ,tate ,gallery ,illustration3 ,drawing of ,turner ,,letter ,i ,,explanatory ,yes3 ,i remember that morning at ,exeter when ,i surprised you making a drawing of the west porch of the cathedral4 ,timidly were the unrestored figures of angels1 apostles1 prophets1 kings and warriors--very old1 very battered--taking form in your sketch-book3 timidly1 for even then you were beginning to be troubled by the blur that rose1 after an hour's work1 between your eyes and the carven kings and saints4 ,your sister passed into the cathedral to her devotions carrying white flowers for the altar3 we stayed in the sunlight4 ,i cannot remember how ,turner became the subject of our talk2 but ,i think it was my mention of his drawing of the west front of ,salisbury ,cathedral done when he was twenty-three--one of the set exhibited at the ,royal ,academy in #agii1 which hastened his election to an ,associateship of the ,royal ,academy4 ,those were the days of the tinted architectural drawings1 but in that magnificent ,salisbury1 the details indicated1 yet not insistent1 the old stones yellow in the sunshine1 grey-blue in the shadow1 ,turner was already on the track of ,light1 the goal of his art life4 ,he had not yet formulated any principle1 that was not ,turner's way2 but those small1 bright eyes of his had already perceived that there is light in shade as in shine4 ,girtin1 that marvellous boy1 his friend and fellow-student1 was still alive2 but art was in a poor state in ,england1 in #agii1 and we can well believe that this drawing of ,salisbury made ,turner a marked man4 ,i could dispense with the lamp-post boys playing with hoops1 as indeed with every figure in every picture by ,turner4 ,but he needed such strong foreground notes1 and he1 like the older landscape painters1 troubled little about figures4 ,claude used to say1 with a laugh1 that he made no charge for them4 ,their use was to throw back the middle distance4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,ii4--,,hastings4 7,from the oil painting by ,turner in the ,tate ,gallery7 ,one of the so-called unfinished pictures that1 after half a century of seclusion in the cellars of the ,national ,gallery1 were removed to the ,tate ,gallery1 and opened to public inspection early in ,february #aijf4 ,this great find1 as it was called1 of twenty-one ,turners was the sensation of the year in art circles4 ,hastings was a favourite subject with ,turner4 ,then we talked of ,turner's water-colours4 ,had he never composed the ,liber ,studiorum2 never produced gorgeous dreams of glowing colour in his oil pictures2 never with veils of luminous paint flashed sunrise upon white canvases2 never done a moonlight1 or white sails billowing over a wet sea1 he would1 in his water-colours1 have earned the title of father of modern landscape and of ,impressionism4 ,you1 who had seen nothing of ,turner's work except the plates1 good in their way1 but far from being the real thing1 in ,mr4 ,stopford ,brooke's edition of the ,liber ,studiorum1 hinted that you found the master old-fashioned4 ,corot1 ,monet1 and ,harpignies were your idols in landscape4 ,that was not strange when ,i consider that your childhood was spent in ,jersey1 and your youth at ,moret and in ,paris1 and that on your twentieth birthday1 a few months ago1 you were articled to an architect of ,exeter1 your ,france-loving father's native place4 ,so the ,master seemed old-fashioned1 did he8 ,and you were a little sceptical of my enthusiasm4 ,ah1 ,i said1 if you could see a range of ,turner's water-colours from the first boyish drawing of ,lambeth ,palace exhibited at the ,royal ,academy when he was fifteen1 through the plodding period of his development1 cumbered with ungainly figures1 but set in the ,turnerian air and against infinite distances1 as in the winding ,thames from ,richmond ,hill1 ever moving towards the light1 on to his later visions when buildings1 hills1 and clouds shimmer in iridescent vapour6 ,then the figures of men and women disappear1 and after fifty years of observation of ,nature those old eyes see only the chromatic glories of the reflections and refractions of imponderable sun-rays4 ,the lovely colours linger so delicately on odds and ends of paper that it seems as if a breath must blow them away4 ,if you could see the sapphire1 opal and amethyst tenderness of his ',study on the ,rhine1' the misty hills rainbow-tinted1 the sun flushing the steep castle rock and making a golden pathway over the sea1 you would feel that this barber's son1 morose1 mean1 in whose muddled brain moved until his last day magnificent ideas1 has given to the world the whole history of water-colour1 from the tinted drawing1 to the flame of an effect seen and caught in a moment of ecstasy4 ,you were still sceptical6 ,i acknowledge that there were others in ,turner's day who also broke new paths--,cozens1 and of course ,girtin1 of whom ,turner is reported to have said1 ,had ,tom ,girtin lived ,i should have starved4 ,as an old man he would mumble of ,poor ,tom's golden drawings4 ,i acknowledge that since ,turner's day the channel that he flooded has broadened and gushed forth into many tributaries2 but he was the first1 modelling himself on ,claude1 to start in pursuit of the sun1 to break the rays1 and flush the land4 ,i quoted a ,frenchman1 ,m4 le ,sizeranne3 ,all the torches which have shed a flood of new light upon ,art--that of ,delacroix in #ahbe1 those of the ,impressionists in #ahgj--;have in turn been lit at his flame4 ,i quoted ,constable--generous ,constable--,i believe it would be difficult to say that there is a bit of landscape now done that does not emanate from that source4 ,i quoted ,pisarro1 telling how during the war of #ahgj he and ,monet came to ,london1 studied ,turner at the ,national ,gallery1 and found in ,turner and ,constable practical certitude in matters of technique which they had but vaguely suspected and discussed at the ,caf ,guerbois4 ,what would they have said had they known that ,ruskin1 the champion of ,turner1 the foe of ,impressionism1 when1 in #ahef1 he sifted the nineteen thousand ,turner water-colours1 drawings1 studies1 and the unfinished paintings1 had condemned the sunshine and atmosphere canvases now in the ,tate ,gallery to half a century of obscurity1 because in his opinion they were unfinished4 ,turner purposely left them unfinished and elusive as sunrise itself1 momentary impressions of the glory of the world4 ,the sun is new each day1 ever uncompleted3 so are these records of the flame of ,turner4 ,they are golden visions1 said ,constable1 speaking of the ,venice pictures1 only visions1 but still one would like to live and die with such pictures4 ,turner1 to whom the world of men and women was a place to escape from1 brooded on scenes that open a pathway to tired eyes leading away somewhere west of the sun and east of the moon2 he loved distances1 lakes that feel their way round hills to infinity1 and sunsets that are a world in themselves4 ,even in his dark ,calais ,pier he must open the inky clouds to a blue sky swaying above the bituminous sea4 ,in the unfinished ,chichester ,canal you may sail over that happy waterway1 beyond the spire1 on and on whithersoever your fancy leads2 in the unfinished ,petworth ,park you may tramp away with the hunter and the hounds past the sentinel trees to that vast sky flaming and beckoning2 in the unfinished ,norham ,castle ,sunrise the poet-artist dreamed the mystery of dawn1 and as he saw the miracle unfolding1 he told his dream to you and to me2 he saw the blue mists parting before the sun-rays rising behind the castle2 saw the opalescent sky reflected in the water2 saw1 perhaps1 in the mind's eye1 the strong red note that the picture needed1 and quickly set that cow standing knee-deep in the shallows4 ,turner gave all of himself to the making of this lovely impression1 for ,norham ,castle1 which he drew and painted so often1 was his mascot4 ,sketching on the ,tweed with ,cadell1 the ,edinburgh bookseller1 as they passed ,norham ,castle1 ,turner suddenly swept off his hat to the ruins4 ,i made a drawing of ,norham several years ago1 he explained4 ,it took2 and from that day to this ,i have had as much to do as my hands could execute4 ,there1 ,i remember1 ,i paused1 noting that you were again passing your hands about your eyes4 ,troubled1 you said that the blur had returned1 and that you must work no more that day4 ,so we walked towards the river4 ,on the way we saw ,italian workmen in blue trousers paving a road from cauldrons of molten asphalt4 ,we watched the little flames leaping from the bubbling mass1 and ,i drew from the sight an image of the art life of ,turner3 how he stoked his furnace with ,poussin1 ,vandevelde1 and de ,loutherbourg1 and so brought to life his dark early works such as ,the ,shipwreck and ,calais ,pier2 how as he fed his fire with ,claude1 ,crome1 and ,wilson the furnace glowed1 and the world saw the ardour of ,ulysses ,deriding ,polyphemus1 and the splendour of ,dido ,building ,carthage2 then when the flames leapt towards the sky there was pure ,turner1 the ,turner of the ,tmraire and the ,venice dreams1 a ,hastings that has lost all earthly form2 a dream boat passing between ,headlands at ,sunrise1 and the later water-colours--the red ,rigi1 the blue ,rigi1 the blue and gold ,arth from the ,lake of ,zug1 the moonlight ,venice1 and the atmospheric magic of the ,lake of ,uri4 ,when we regained the ,cathedral close we met your sister returning from her devotions4 ,she said3 ,what have you been discussing this summer morning8 ,i have been discoursing on ,the ,flame of ,turner1 said ,i4 ,ah6 said she1 there's a ,turner in the ,museum here4 ,we went to the ,museum and stood before ,buttermere ,lake1 with a part of ,cromach ,water1 ,cumberland--a ,shower4 ,you were silent4 ,what a catastrophe--after my dithyrambs about the flame of ,turner and his slow soar to light1 that ,i should show you1 as your first ,turner1 that work of his early stoking period1 painted at twenty-two1 before he learned the method of oil painting and the ways of the sun4 ,the lake has almost gone1 the trees have blackened1 only the rainbow dimly lingers4 ,the flame of ,turner8 ,the chrysalis husk of ,turner6 ,that poor ,buttermere ,lake is still the only picture by ,turner that you have ever seen4 ,and now that you are far from here1 walking and digging in ,sparta1 and sailing in insecure little crafts to the ,islands1 ,i hold it a duty to write you in detachments this interminable letter explaining as well as ,i can what ,i mean by the ,flame of ,turner4 ,your sister will read the letters to you1 ill-starred student1 who1 at the beginning of your art career1 must not use your eyes for twelve months on penalty of blindness4 ,when1 after the last visit to the oculist1 you hurried from the lawyer's office in ,lincoln's ,inn ,fields1 where ,i witnessed your ,will1 ,i did not tell you that a few yards away rests a glorious ,turner1 ,van ,tromp's ,barge entering the ,texel and sailing in golden pomp eternally through the ,soane ,museum4 ,i saw it on my way to your lawyer's office4 ,the picture is alone and ,i was alone with what ,turner loved--a sportive sea1 an arching sky1 gold overhead1 gold on the water1 and a ship sailing home golden-hulled beneath golden sails1 with flags flying at the mast1 and a cunning wraith of indigo cloud sweeping down the sky to give the glamour value4 ,you did not see the golden ,van ,tromp4 ,i had not the heart to show it to you4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iii4--,,norham ,,castle4 7,from the oil painting by ,turner in the ,tate ,gallery7 ,one of the most beautiful of the impressionistic ,turners that were removed from the cellars of the ,national ,gallery early in #aijf1 cleaned1 and hung in the ,turner ,room at ,millbank4 ,once1 when passing ,norham ,castle1 ,turner took off his hat to the ruins4 ,his companion inquired the reason4 ,i made a drawing or painting of ,norham ,castle several years since1 answered ,turner4 ,it took2 and from that day to this ,i have had as much to do as my hands could execute4 ,now you are far from ,turner4 ,i can follow your track to ,olympia1 and along the path by the wood1 above the excavations1 to a rough sign-post1 where ,i stood two years ago and read the words ,to ,arcadia6 ,somewhere beyond ,arcadia you are1 and some day these letters will fall1 one by one1 into your hands4 ,,letter ,,ii ,,his ,,life3 ,,an ,,impression ,once in our walk from ,exeter ,cathedral to the river you paused and asked what kind of a man was this amalgam of poet-artist and suspicious tradesman4 ,and ,i1 who had been so long studying his works1 and dipping into the lives of him by ,thornbury1 ,hamerton1 ,cosmo ,monkhouse1 ,sir ,walter ,armstrong1 ,mr4 ,w4 ,l4 ,wyllie1 and others1 tried to give an impression of the man ,turner--a blur of his sayings1 letters1 habits1 and the comments of his biographers4 ,some of them have bewailed that his was not a pattern life1 such as would edify a ,y4,m4,c4,a4 audience4 ,nature produces such useful lives by the hundred thousand3 she makes but one ,turner4 ,the ,church had blessed neither his union with ,mrs4 ,danby1 nor with ,mrs4 ,booth1 and1 in his later days1 he preferred rum and water with sea-faring men in ,wapping or ,rotherhithe to dreary dinner-parties in dreary houses in the ,west ,end of ,london1 which does not seem to me strange4 ,we must take him as he was and be grateful4 ,it was ,nature's whim to link this great artist-soul to the starved soul of a petty tradesman4 ,as an artist he is with the immortals3 as a man he was true son of the covetous1 kindly barber of ,maiden ,lane1 ,strand1 keen on halfpennies1 a driver of hard bargains4 ,the father haggled with his customers1 the son with engravers and picture buyers4 ,secretive1 suspicious1 ambitious1 sometimes mean1 yet capable of great kindnesses and sacrifices1 was this little hook-nosed man in an ill-cut brown coat1 and enormous frilled shirt1 with feet and hands notably small4 ,kind8 ,yes4 ,did he not in the ,academy of #ahbf cover his glowing picture of ,cologne--,the ,arrival of a ,packet ,boat--,evening with a wash of lamp-black1 because it killed two portraits by ,sir ,thomas ,lawrence hanging alongside4 ,poor ,lawrence was so unhappy1 said ,turner4 ,the lamp-black will all wash off after the ,exhibition4 ,but ,turner's moods were capricious4 ,like all blessed or cursed with the artistic temperament1 the mood of the moment usually governed his actions4 ,six years after the lamp-black incident he had a grey picture hanging beside ,constable's ,opening of ,waterloo ,bridge1 and ,turner 7you may imagine the fury in his bright eyes7 watched his brother artist heightening with vermilion and lake the decorations and flags of his ,city barges4 ,presently1 when ,constable had gone away1 ,turner put a round daub of red lead upon his grey picture1 which he afterwards shaped into a buoy4 ,constable said when he returned1 ,turner has been here and fired a gun4 ,turner liked a joke1 and if it was sometimes at the expense of another1 that was but the way of his class4 ,from first to last he loved but one thing with heart and soul--his art4 ,his affection for his father1 and for ,mr4 ,fawkes of ,farnley ,hall1 were but interludes in his passion to interpret ,nature1 to make her conform to his visions1 and to excel his predecessors and contemporaries4 ,certainly1 in his way1 he loved his old dad1 who lived with him until his death1 looking after the picture gallery of unsold works in ,queen ,anne ,street1 and helping in the preparation of his canvases4 ,of his father he was wont to chuckle1 ,dad taught me nothing except to save halfpence4 ,the death of the old man was a great blow4 ,the love affair which ,thornbury relates amounts to nothing--no human thing ever really interfered with his art4 ,his schooling at ,brentford and ,margate was infinitesimal--but for a landscape and sea painter1 what education could have been better than the river and the boats at ,brentford and the sea and ships at ,margate4 ,he remained illiterate to the end4 ,when he wrote a description of ,st4 ,michael's ,mount for the publication called ,coast ,scenery1 ,coombes complained that ,mr4 ,t----'s account is the most extraordinary composition ,i have ever read2 in parts it is absolutely unintelligible4 ,as ,professor of ,perspective at the ,royal ,academy he was unable to express his ideas1 but1 says ,thornbury1 he took great pains to prepare the most learned diagrams4 ,throughout his life he extended and amended that amazing poem called ,fallacies of ,hope1 portions of which he tagged to his pictures in the ,royal ,academy ,catalogue4 ,it is doggerel with occasional glints of the beauty1 pomp1 and wonder of the world that showered when he used his rightful methods of self-expression--eye and hand4 ,the romance of the ancient world of myth and architecture tingled in this secretive1 slovenly1 ,jewy man2 but when he essayed to learn ,greek1 in the happy days at ,sandycombe1 the attempt had to be abandoned4 ,the slow brain could not master the verbs4 ,ambition was strong within him4 ,no toil was too long or too severe4 ,he travelled ,england and ,europe1 sketched everything1 stored the forms of buildings and effects of light and colour2 and could recall what he had garnered at an instant's notice4 ,in painting he pitted himself against the dead1 against his contemporaries1 against twenty miles of country1 against the very glory of the sun1 wrestling with each in turn1 and chuckling as they succumbed4 ,he saved his money and in later years hoarded his pictures4 ,he refused to pass potential purchasers to his studio1 but ,gillott1 the pen-maker1 bearded the lion in ,queen ,anne ,street1 pushed past ,mrs4 ,danby1 joked with the old man when he growled1 ,don't want to sell6 and carried off in his cab some five thousand pounds worth of pictures4 ,turner re-bought his canvases when they came up for sale at ,christie's1 worked without cessation1 practised all manner of petty economies1 and finally left his pictures to the nation and his fortune of one hundred and forty thousand pounds to found a home for decayed male artists of ,english parents and of lawful issue1 with an instruction for a ,turner medal at the ,royal ,academy1 and a monument to himself in ,st4 ,paul's ,cathedral4 ,the will with its four codicils was a bewildering document4 ,for years it was wrangled over in the courts1 and in the end a compromise was effected4 ,the fortune went to the next of kin1 the pictures and drawings to the nation1 and twenty thousand pounds to the ,royal ,academy4 ,ruskin summed up the compromise thus3 ,the nation buried1 with threefold honour1 ,turner's body in ,st4 ,paul's1 his pictures at ,charing ,cross1 and his purposes in ,chancery4 ,if ,turner1 as he eyes the landscape of the ,elysian ,fields1 retains aught of earth-life frailty1 he must look angrily down upon the ,turner section of the ,national ,gallery1 upon the rooms beneath1 reached by a winding staircase1 where some of his water-colours are crowded1 upon the sunlight canvases at the ,tate ,gallery2 and at certain provincial exhibitions whither some of his works have overflowed from the ,national ,gallery4 ,for he stated explicitly in his will that the pictures should be kept together in a room or rooms to be added to the ,national ,gallery1 to be called ,turner's ,gallery1 and to be built within ten years of his demise4 ,i still hope that the ,turner ,gallery may be built4 ,perhaps the hope will become a reality4 ,what a sight ,turner's pictures chronologically arranged would be1 from the dim experimental pieces and the ,moonlight3 ,a ,study at ,millbank1 to those four works1 splendid failures1 now at the ,tate ,gallery1 that he painted the year before he died1 when the mind of the old man1 having flamed from the embers to express the opalescent loveliness of ,venice1 the grey tumult of the sea in the ,whaling series1 the glory of the sun flashed in stains of luminous colour upon white canvases1 harked back1 in the shadow of death1 to the old legends he had always loved1 and painted them as of yore1 but now blurred and tumbling1 mighty ruins rising from blue lakes by great rivers and arching pines1 with an impossible neas relating his story to an unrealised ,dido1 or being admonished by a ,noah's-,ark ,mercury4 ,the imagination remains gorgeous if chaotic2 at seventy-five he still reaches towards the unattainable1 still seeks in visions a way of escape from the materialism and stupidity of the world4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,iv4--,,the ,,fighting ,t,m,,raire4 7,from the oil painting by ,turner in the ,national ,gallery7 ,exhibited at the ,royal ,academy in #ahci4 ,in the previous year a party of friends1 including ,turner1 were bound for ,greenwich by water4 ,they passed a steam-tug towing a superannuated battleship4 ,that's a fine subject for you1 ,turner4 said ,stanfield4 ,the painter took the hint1 and produced ,the ,fighting ,tmraire tugged to her last ,berth to be broken up4 ,what a triumph to see the range of oil pictures with the water-colours stepping daintily through the stages of his development to those latter dreams of the ,rhine and ,swiss lakes1 fairy scenes that live1 as by a miracle1 on pieces of mere paper2 also the proofs of the ,liber1 with ,mr4 ,frank ,short's interpretations of the drawings that were never engraved1 bringing the number up to a round hundred2 also the tall books1 one cold1 beautiful steel engraving on a page1 such as ,chteau ,gaillard in the volume called ,turner's ,annual ,tour1 #ahcd1 a view which charms the eyes dulled by grey ,london and makes the feet impatient to be off to ,richard ,coeur-de-,lion's castle on the bend of the ,seine4 ,the portraits1 sketches and caricatures1 too1 of ,turner of ,maiden ,lane1 ,hand's ,court1 ,hammersmith1 ,twickenham1 ,queen ,anne and ,harley ,streets1 ,chelsea1 and of all the world--they should hang near his life-work4 ,you will see him1 when the good time of the ,turner ,gallery comes1 as a pretty youth1 painted by himself1 no doubt a flattering likeness1 which hangs in the ,national ,gallery4 ,it is a bust portrait1 full-face1 with large estimating eyes1 somewhat amazed1 a heavy nose1 and a dropping under-lip4 ,an attractive boy2 but you must remember that ,turner the idealist painted it1 and that he had worked for a time in the studio of ,sir ,joshua ,reynolds4 ,nearer to the ,turner that one visualises is the sturdy middle-aged man seated under a tree1 cross-legged1 pencil in hand1 in the painting by ,charles ,turner4 ,the brickdust face is clean-shaven1 the nose unmistakably ,semitic2 the hair is long1 and the whiskers straggle to the collar4 ,a drawing rests upon his knee2 he looks forth with an eye like a sword1 considering how he shall change the landscape4 ,the sketch by ,maclise is a delight4 ,turner sits on a stool up in the clouds1 painting2 the tail of his coat flaps over towards the earth1 his boot is crooked into the support of the easel1 and beneath him rises the sun with the word ,turner blazoned amid the rays4 ,but the best of the series1 because it has that touch of caricature which often approaches nearer to life than a reasoned drawing1 is the portrait by ,william ,parrott made on ,varnishing ,day at the ,royal ,academy in #ahdf1 when he was seventy-one4 ,turner is painting furiously upon his picture4 ,the frame stands on the floor4 ,the top is but an inch shorter than the battered beaver hat crushed over upon his big head4 ,his ,mrs4 ,gamp umbrella leans against a chair4 ,his fellow-,academicians stare at his picture and at his colour-box1 puzzled4 ,how does he do it8 they whisper4 ,in those days the members of the ,academy were allowed four varnishing days4 ,in his latter years ,turner would send his pictures merely laid in with white and grey and complete them on the varnishing days4 ,there was brown sherry at luncheon1 and ,wilkie ,collins describes the old man as sitting on the top of a flight of steps1 or a box1 like a shabby ,bacchus nodding at his picture4 ,but he could paint a ,rain1 ,steam1 and ,speed and ,the ,sun of ,venice going to ,sea in spite of the brown sherry1 and his lonely bachelor life4 ,but brown sherry or no brown sherry1 to his dying day he never lost interest in the love of his life1 light4 ,at seventy years of age1 when he is described as stooping1 looking down and muttering to himself1 he would pump ,brewster as to all he knew on the subject of light4 ,those were the days of the infancy of photography1 and ,mr4 ,mayall1 who was experimenting with daguerreotypes1 tells how the old man1 whose eyes were then weak and bloodshot1 would sit in his studio day after day asking questions4 ,he pretended that he was a ,master in ,chancery4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,v4--,,venice3 ,,grand ,,canal 7,,sunset7 7,from the water-colour by ,turner in the ,national ,gallery7 ,this twilight impression of the ,grand ,canal is one of the twenty ,venice water-colours catalogued and described by ,ruskin1 and arranged by him for exhibition in the rooms on the ground floor of the ,national ,gallery4 ,turner's entirely final manner he calls it ,a noble sketch2 injured by some change which has taken place in the coarse dark touches on the extreme left4 ,,letter ,,iii ,,his ,,art3 ,,the ,,furnace ,,doors ,,open ,there is a small1 neglected room in the ,national ,gallery where certain beginnings and failures in art are entombed4 ,if you were to stroll into that sepulchre on a dark day1 ,i fear you would exclaim that ,buttermere ,lake is bright compared with those other early ,turners ,morning on ,coniston ,fells and ,moonlight3 a ,study at ,millbank4 ,even on early ,march afternoons1 when the sun strikes through the tall windows and falls upon ,moonlight at ,millbank1 little is visible on the small1 sooty canvas except the full moon1 looking like a discoloured white wafer stuck upon the dim sky4 ,turner developed slowly4 ,this veritable nocturne1 and the pictures that followed it shows how slow and difficult was his mastery of oil as a medium4 ,in the early nineteenth century ,claude1 the ,poussins1 ,salvator ,rosa1 and ,cuyp were the idols of landscape art1 which was still regarded as a sort of interloper in the realm swayed by religious and mythological pictures1 portraits1 genre works1 and ,dutch drolleries4 ,the academic pioneers in landscape had imposed themselves upon ,nature and upon the ,english gentry who were the patrons of art4 ,landscape might be classically beautiful according to ,claude1 classically sublime according to ,salvator1 homely and mildly sunny according to ,cuyp1 conventionally maritime according to ,vandevelde4 ,turner as a youth was not the man to break tradition4 ,the cunning tradesman in him preferred the well-beaten path4 ,it was his destiny to compete against the popular idols in turn1 to sweep past them to ,nature herself1 and so onwards and upwards to the sun1 the source of all light and colour4 ,looked on the sun with hope is one of the few simple and suggestive lines in his ,fallacies of ,hope4 ,averse in his beginnings1 like ,velazquez1 to experimentalising1 he was content to bide his time1 to plough the furrows of other men1 with the indwelling determination to plough them better4 ,he admired with generosity2 he never depreciated4 ,vandevelde made me a painter1 he said1 years later1 and of a golden-brown ,cuyp he exclaimed1 ,i would give a thousand pounds to have painted that4 ,if ever1 exiled student1 we visit the ,national ,gallery together on the ,turner quest1 ,i shall take you first to that room where1 from the grave1 he challenges ,claude of ,lorraine4 ,turner bequeathed ,the ,sun ,rising in a ,mist1 painted when he was thirty-two1 and ,dido ,building ,carthage1 painted when he was forty1 to the nation1 on condition that they should hang for ever between the two pictures painted by ,claude1 the ',seaport' and the ',mill4' ,there you have a glimpse into the mind of ,turner1 his fine envy of others1 his confidence in his own power4 ,a ,frenchman1 ,m4 ,viardot1 incensed at the idea that any one should approach the throne of the ,lorrainer1 suggests that such o'ervaulting pride was a proof of ,turner's insanity4 ,i will not answer such foolishness1 but ,british candour compels me to say that ,i do not think ,claude suffers by the comparison4 ,turner became great when he became himself1 not when he was trying to outvie others--,titian1 ,morland1 ,gainsborough1 ,crome--to name but four4 ,in the year that he painted ,the ,sun ,rising in a ,mist he was trying in his ,country ,blacksmith to trip ,wilkie1 and in ,the ,sun ,rising in a ,mist1 as ,mr4 ,wyllie shows1 the figures are taken almost exactly from ,teniers1 and the snub-nosed1 high-pooped ships from ,vandevelde4 ,his time was not yet4 ,he was learning furiously1 brooding upon and correlating his impressions of ,nature1 storing them for future use1 shredding the permanent from the trivial4 ,i think of him on that tossing trip to ,bur ,island in a half-decked boat with ,cyrus ,redding1 silently watching the sea1 absorbed in contemplation1 climbing to the summit of the island in a hurricane of wind1 where he seemed writing rather than drawing4 ,not yet could he say to a companion1 looking at a black cow against the sun1 ,it's purple1 not black as it is painted2 not yet had the sun begun to flood his drawings2 not yet were the brown tree school angry because forms lost their details in the blinding light of his pictures4 ,but in ,dido building ,carthage1 painted in #ahae1 the same year as the popular ,crossing the ,brook1 of which he thought so highly that he talked in his ironic1 humorous way of being wrapped up in it as a winding-sheet1 there are signs that he was feeling the fascination of colour4 ,some day you will stand at the entrance of the great ,turner ,room in the ,national ,gallery and rest your eyes on the six huge dark pictures on the left wall4 ,the dull and uninspiring ,waterloo is later than the others2 but to me it is just as unattractive as its companions--as ,i think it will be1 light lover1 to you4 ,the ,tenth ,plague and ,the ,deluge ,i never look at except when ,i wish to be reminded that from the chrysalis rises the butterfly1 from the black furnace the loveliness of the flame4 ,the ,death of ,nelson is dark and decorative1 ,calais ,pier and ,the ,shipwreck are dark and tremendous4 ,nobody is wet1 said ,ruskin1 and nobody feels that he is looking on the real ,calais1 or on a real shipwreck1 yet what power they have4 ,these funereal wild waves were made in ,harley ,street2 light1 to the slow-developing ,turner1 was still a studio convention4 ,but nobody else could have made those seas4 ,they are by ,turner1 but not by the true ,turner1 who strove through the veiled sun to the source of light itself4 ,in ,crossing the ,brook1 which faces the entrance doorway1 painted when he was forty1 ,turner has marched onward4 ,the gates have opened to the far horizon1 and he now gives us the ,turnerian fifty miles or so of country outstretching to infinity on a few feet of canvas4 ,if you were with me1 ,i would whisper in your ear my division of ,crossing the ,brook into pleasing and unpleasing passages--the pleasing being the fleecy clouds in the blue sky1 the faint miles of ,devonshire1 the wooded hills rising from the river1 and the bridge that spans the water3 the unpleasing passages are the worried foreground1 the ugly rocks1 the figures1 and the black mouth of the tunnel4 ,yet it is a picture of which one becomes fond4 ,who can but be entranced by the distance1 ,turner's sign mark1 the open gate that lures us away from the troubled foreground of the world4 ,i turn from the sanity of ,crossing the ,brook to the right wall1 and straightway ,i am elated1 it is always so1 at the sight of one of the magnificent dreams that the old ,wizard forced oil paint and brushes to portray4 ,in the centre of the wall hangs ,ulysses and ,polyphemus4 ,the furnace doors are open1 from them stream a fury of glow1 and in the fire are the dazzling shapes of ,turnerian romance4 ,,letter ,,iv ,,the ,,flame ,,ascends ,when we visit the ,national ,gallery ,i will place you with your back to the dark ,calais ,pier and ,shipwreck wall1 and waving my hand across to that glorious trio1 the ,ulysses1 the ,bay of ,bai1 and the ,carthage1 ,i will say but one word--,turner6 ,here indeed is the magician weaving his spells1 breaking the laws of light and shade1 toying with history1 caring nothing so long as he can picture the dreams of the pomp and beauty of the world of imagination that dazzled a sullen man1 pottering about in a dingy ,london studio4 ,ulysses deriding ,polyphemus has been called operatic and melodramatic2 it has been remarked that the galley of ,ulysses1 far from the influence of the sun1 is in full light1 and that the dark shadows thrown by the stone-pines in the ,bay of ,bai are unnatural4 ,turner needed those deep blacks in the foreground2 he wanted the galley of ,ulysses to be in the light3 so the old rascal forced truth to suit his vision4 ,his success is his expiation4 ,he never copied ,nature or followed history4 ,his way was to use ,nature and history to suit his conception1 the right way for a genius2 but not for ,brown1 ,smith1 and ,jones4 ,anachronisms abound in his works2 he elongated steeples1 rebuilt towers and towns1 changed the courses of rivers 7he in paint1 as ,leonardo with the pencil72 but he caught the spirit of place4 ,to me the ,ulysses deriding ,polyphemus is the very heart of romance4 ,unlike life1 yes2 all the best things are unlike life4 ,i withdraw my remark that there is not a figure in a picture by ,turner which ,i would not rather have erased1 withdraw it in favour of the vast1 impotent ,polyphemus writhing on the cliff4 ,when ,turner painted the figures of gods and goddesses in the likeness of men and women he was bored2 when he painted a giant monster like this ,polyphemus his imagination inspired him4 ,asked where he found his subject1 he invented two silly lines of doggerel and said they came from ,tom ,dibdin4 ,his lonely visions were not for the chatter of a dinner party4 ,they may be tracked in that little red book found by ,thornbury in his studio1 where1 amid notes about chemistry1 memoranda as to colours1 and prophylactics against the ,maltese plague1 are certain scraps of verse1 something about1 ,anna's kiss1 a look back1 a toilsome dream1 human joy1 ecstasy1 and hope4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vi4--,,arth ,,from ,,the ,,lake ,,of ,,zug4 7,from the water-colour by ,turner in the ,national ,gallery7 ,elaborate and lovely1 wrote ,ruskin4 ,we sleep at ,arth1 and are up1 and out on the lake1 early in the morning2 to good purpose4 ,the sun rises behind the ,mythens1 and we see such an effect of lake and light1 as we shall not forget soon4 ,here ,i pause to ask myself how ,i can possibly give you1 who have never seen it1 an idea of the ,turner room at the ,national ,gallery4 ,i close my eyes and visualise the route4 ,i ascend the stairs1 and am detained by two ,turners that have1 against his will1 overflowed into an outer room--the beautiful heat-hazy ,abingdon1 and distant ,london1 seen from ,greenwich4 ,almost reluctantly ,i walk into the large gallery1 and pass from the glorious sunrise in ,ulysses to the glorious sunset in ,the ,fighting ,tmraire1 painted just ten years later4 ,claude and the others have been left far behind4 ,here is ,turner the visionary1 alone with the sun and the sea1 untroubled by the necessity of painting the puny figure of man1 but glorying in the symbols of man's power1 the new tug dragging the stately old battleship to her last berth1 a theme near to his heart--the end of a period in man's history flickering out in the ageless glory of ,nature4 ,pages1 chapters1 have been written about the untruth of this picture4 ,his light and shade1 says ,mr4 ,wyllie1 is very seldom correct4 ,his tones are almost always wrong4 ,the place where the sun is setting in the ',tmraire' is the darkest part of the picture4 ,but what does it matter8 ,this is his vision1 of the absolute end of man's work in this daily death of ,nature4 ,who would have one inch changed8 ,about this1 as about almost all the pictures1 there is a story4 ,the ,tmraire killed a portrait by ,geddes hanging above it1 whereupon ,geddes began to lay in a vivid ,turkey carpet on his canvas4 ,ho6 ho6 cried ,turner1 who loved a fight2 and the unfortunate ,geddes watched him loading on orange1 scarlet1 and yellow with his palette knife4 ,i close my eyes to the splendour of the ,tmraire and see ,the ,burial of ,wilkie1 a silvery blue sky and sea shimmering with delicate reflections1 the mourning1 black-sailed vessel severed by the flare of the torches1 their brilliancy and the black of the sails forming vast tracks of light and gloom on the water4 ,on ,varnishing ,day ,stanfield urged that the sails were untrue4 ,turner grunted--,wish ,i had any colour to make 'em blacker4 ,then ,i see the ,snowstorm--,steamboat off a ,harbour's ,mouth making ,signals in ,shallow ,water and going by the lead1 which ,punch called ,a ,typhoon bursting in a ,simoon over the ,whirlpool of ,maelstrom1 ,norway1 with a ship on fire1 an eclipse1 and the effect of a lunar rainbow4 ,turner is now sixty-seven4 ,he is prepared to push paint to its ultimate limit so that he can achieve the impossible4 ,to study the effect of this hubbub of snowstorm and gale he put to sea in the tempest1 and made the sailors lash him to the mast for four hours4 ,it was the hostile reception of this picture following the attacks on others in previous years1 the jeers of ,punch1 the shafts of ,blackwood1 that inspired ,ruskin to compose ,modern ,painters4 ,the first volume was published the following year1 #ahdc1 but that colossal work had its beginnings in a letter ,ruskin wrote in #ahcf defending ,turner's picture of ,venice called ,juliet and her ,nurse4 ,turner was famous long before ,modern ,painters was published1 and although that pan of appreciation has carried his fame to the ends of the ,english-speaking world1 the riot of its praise has tipped the pens of some critics with gall4 ,the ,slave ,ship exalted so eloquently by ,ruskin1 and now in ,boston1 was described by ,george ,inness1 the ,american artist1 as the most infernal piece of clap-trap ever painted4 ,the aged ,turner suffered from the criticisms of the ,snowstorm4 ,ruskin tells how he heard the old man one evening muttering to himself ,soapsuds and ,whitewash4 ,on the ,graduate of ,oxford attempting to soothe him1 he burst out--,what would they have8 ,i wonder what they think the sea's like8 ,i wish they'd been in it6 ,beneath the ,snowstorm at the ,national ,gallery hang two pictures1 shining with a radiance not of the earth1 ,the ,sun of ,venice going to ,sea1 and ,the ,approach to ,venice1 wrecks perhaps of what they were1 but still lovely1 in one all the pomp of ,venice1 in the other all her haunting and elusive beauty4 ,a little further along the wall in the direction of the ,ulysses is the parent picture of ,impressionism1 that incomparable presentment of movement1 mist1 and moisture1 aptly named ,rain1 ,steam1 and ,speed4 ,the fools called this a phantom picture1 complained that the locomotive has not the appearance of metal4 ,turner was not painting the fact of an engine2 but the effect of an engine rushing through rain and mist4 ,my business1 he once said to ,cyrus ,redding1 is to draw what ,i see3 not what ,i know is there4 ,in the years #ahde and #ahdf1 when his sense of form began to fail1 but not his sense of colour1 he re-saw the sea and the sun1 to the exclusion of other aspects of ,nature4 ,of the thirteen pictures painted in those two years1 all but three were of ,venice or of ,whalers4 ,i wish1 after our visit to the ,national ,gallery1 ,i could have taken you to the ,old ,masters ,exhibition1 and there bid you look at his ,mercury and ,hers1 painted in #ahaa1 when he saw with the eyes of ,claude4 ,pleasant are the blue lakes1 the distances and the veiled horizon1 the faint hills and the arching sky2 but they are derivative as the drawing-master trees and the wooden foreground with its score of dummy figures1 its posed ,mercury1 its unrealised ,hers1 and its architectural litter4 ,when you had absorbed this ,mercury and ,hers of #ahaa1 ,i would have turned your gaze to the ,burning of the ,houses of ,parliament of #ahce1 the real ,turner1 seeing with his own eyes the fury of burning buildings1 an orgy of flames roaring up to the star-sown sky4 ,the far end of the stone bridge1 a nocturne in the palest blues and yellows1 drops into the fire1 half the sky is aglow1 half is a night blue1 and the gold and sapphire are reflected in the water1 where dim boats push out from the shade into the dazzle1 and thousands of figures1 mere suggestions of forms1 watch the two towers1 molten silver1 standing solitary and self-contained like ,shadrach1 ,meshach1 and ,abed-nego in the flames4 ,it was such spade-work as the ,liber ,studiorum that enabled him to triumph in such an impossible subject as ,the ,burning of the ,houses of ,parliament4 ,imagine what this series of drawings meant6 ,claude's ,liber ,veritatis1 to rival which the ,liber ,studiorum was designed1 was a mere record of his pictures4 ,turner's ,liber ,studiorum was a survey of ,nature1 classified under six heads1--architectural1 pastoral1 elegant or epic-pastoral1 marine1 mountainous1 and historical or heroic4 ,these divisions were suggested by ,dad4 ,well1 ,gaffer1 said ,turner1 ,i see there will be no peace till ,i comply2 so give me a piece of paper4 ,he made each drawing in sepia2 he etched the essential lines1 and he trained a school of engravers 7not without quarrelling7 to engrave them4 ,men have loved the ,liber4 ,connoisseurs1 like ,mr4 ,rawlinson1 have specialised in it4 ,i know an enthusiast who spends hours in the course of the year1 smoking his pipe1 gazing at 7a poor impression1 but his own7 ,no4 ,,vii41 ,the ,straw ,yard1 that hangs on his study-wall against a reproduction of ,girtin's ,white ,house at ,chelsea1 and he wonders which he would save first if the house caught fire4 ,i have been a quarter of an hour late for an appointment through returning twice to a certain house to enjoy again ,mr4 ,frank ,short's engravings of two of the unpublished drawings--the ,crowhurst and the ,stonehenge4 ,but ,i never knew what the ,liber really was until ,i saw ,mr4 ,rawlinson's collection1 the depth and velvety richness of a very early state of the ,raglan ,castle1 and the large and still simplicity of the ,junction of ,severn and ,wye4 ,some day it may be your privilege to see them2 but first we will descend to the ground floor of the ,national ,gallery and please ourselves by making a choice among the seventy and more sepia drawings for the ,liber that hang on the wall of the first room4 ,but ,i doubt if you will have patience to go through all1 for around1 and in little rooms beyond1 are the water-colours4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,vii4--,,lausanne4 7,from the water-colour by ,turner in the ,national ,gallery7 ,it may be ,lausanne3 it may be ,berne1 or merely a ,turnerian ,swiss dream of flushed spires1 and a dim foreground where anything may be happening4 ,this is one of the water-colours permanently on view at the ,national ,gallery4 ,the others are preserved in two large cabinets in an inner room1 and shown in detachments at intervals of three months4 ,,letter ,v ,,the ,,flame ,,leaps1 ,,expands1 ,,and ,,expires ,when ,i think of ,turner it is the later water-colours that flash before me4 ,the oils are magnificent1 tremendous1 wrought in rivalry and for fame3 the water-colours1 lyrical impressions1 moods of elation inspired by beauty1 are himself4 ,we will go straight to the six studies that hung on the wall by the fireplace1 essential effects selected with unerring instinct from the unessential1 called ,running ,wave in a ,cross-tide3 ,evening2 ,twilight on the ,sea2 ,sunshine on the ,sea on a ,stormy ,evening2 ,breaking ,wave on ,beach2 ,sunset on the ,sea2 and ,coasting ,vessels4 ,the very titles are lyrics4 ,yet they are not more beautiful than other interpretations1 pushed into the region where feeling and vision merge into ecstasy--those ,i have already mentioned1 and some1 my particular favourites1 hanging on the wall to the left of ,ruskin's bust--the ,pilatus1 the careful alchemy of ,carnarvon1 and the atmospheric veils that part above the ,lake of ,uri4 ,year by year other of his water-colours shine out momentarily at exhibitions1 such as at the last ,old ,masters1 when we saw the blue and gold ,lake of ,thun1 and the visionary ,lake of ,zug about which ,ruskin wrote so enthusiastically in ,modern ,painters2 and the apocalyptic splendour of the ,zurich at ,messrs4 ,agnew's4 ,but one never reaches the end of his achievement in the ,national ,gallery collection4 ,a selection of the four hundred is permanently on view1 but a greater number are stored in cabinets in an inner room1 whence once in three months an assortment is withdrawn for exhibition4 ,apart from these there are the thousands of drawings and studies disinterred from the tin boxes which have been arranged chronologically by ,mr4 ,a4 ,j4 ,finberg1 in a hundred vast drawers1 preparatory to his long labour on the ,catalogue ,raisonn4 ,mark their range and you will realise that the whole world was his province4 ,think of the books he illustrated--the ,rivers1 ,harbours1 and ,southern ,coast ,scenery of ,england1 the ,rivers of ,france1 to name but four--travelling often on foot1 with his luggage in a handkerchief tied to the end of a stick1 flushing in the inn at night transparent washes of colour on paper1 flowing tint into tint1 knowing exactly what to do1 sponging1 scraping1 using knife and finger1 anything to force the material to express his vision4 ,once after a ,rhine tour he appeared at ,farnley ,hall with a roll of fifty-three water-colours1 painted at the rate of three a day4 ,i must show you the map of ,england and ,scotland compiled by ,mr4 ,huish1 showing ,turner's tours4 ,it is covered with the lines of his tracks2 you may see where he trudged or coached1 and note the fourteen cathedrals1 twenty-seven abbeys1 and sixty-six castles which he drew4 ,similar maps might be made of ,france1 ,italy1 and ,switzerland4 ,thinking of his wanderings1 ,i look from the window of one of the ,turner water-colour rooms near to the bust of ,ruskin1 who arranged and catalogued them2 ,i look from the window and see a line of the new1 dandy1 taximeter cabs1 and plan a little journey through ,london we two would take1 if you were here4 ,we would visit ,van ,tromp at the ,soane1 and then drive straight to the ,south ,kensington ,museum1 where there are golden dreams by ,turner such as the ,royal ,yacht ,squadron1 ,cowes2 but we would not tarry with the oils1 for ,i should be impatient to show you the wall of water-colours1 some behind protecting blinds1--the early ,wrexham1 ageing houses and grey-blue tower2 the perfect suggestion of the spirit of place called ,sketch of an ,italian ,town1 and the fairy-like blue1 gold1 and purple ,lake of ,brienz1 pure flame of ,turner4 ,then we would speed to ,millbank1 enter the ,tate ,gallery1 and stand in ,room ,,vii4 where the recovered sunshine ,turners hang in radiant array4 ,ruskin1 you will remember1 after ,turner's death1 separated the finished from the unfinished4 ,the finished are in the ,national ,gallery2 the unfinished are among the forty-four at ,millbank4 ,fifty years ago they were deposited1 hidden from public gaze1 in the ,national ,gallery2 early in #aije they were examined by order of the trustees1 cleaned1 restored1 and found to be brilliant and fresh1 as on the day when the greatest landscape painter the world has known1 painted them4 ,these forty-four pictures should be sorted4 ,some show but the tumbling splendour of his decline when he fumbled with his visions1 and produced such chaotic failures as the two ,deluges1 the ,burning ,fiery ,furnace1 ,the ,angel standing in the ,sun1 ,undine1 and ,the ,exile and the ,rock ,limpet4 ,the holiday crowd1 when ,i was last at the ,tate ,gallery1 laughed as their forerunners laughed when the pictures were first exhibited4 ,their laughter enabled me to understand why ,turner was secretive and boorish in old age1 when his imagination outsoared his dwindling power to express his dreams in paint4 ,many visitors giggled and made flippant comments1 just as ,punch did when the old lion's eyes began to fail and his hand to tremble4 ,had ,turner ceased painting when he was nearing seventy he might have been spared much1 but he could not stop4 ,his inward eye still saw gorgeous scenes1 and amid the grime of his dingy house in ,queen ,anne ,street he struggled with such unearthly themes as this ,deluge in the evening and the morning1 and ,napoleon in the sunset of his exile4 ,these are the pictures of his magnificent decline at which the crowd laughed1 and at that riot of forms1 so glorious in colour1 called ,interior at ,petworth4 ,but they did not laugh at the ,norham ,castle1 ,sunrise1 a flush of the prismatic varieties of light against the blue mists of dawn1 or at ,the ,evening ,star1 a nocturne thrown off long before ,whistler popularised the word1 done at the period when1 the crepuscular hour of bats and owls obsessing ,turner1 he produced those small moonlight mezzotints1 wonderful1 dim1 silver things1 that were found in his house after he was dead4 ,they did not laugh at the ,hastings1 delicate blues and golden greys1 with splendour in the upper sky1 and the whole canvas aflame with the orange sail of the boat drawn up on the beach2 or at the ,yacht racing1 an impression of sails against a tumbling sea1 or at ,a ,ship ,aground1 the ground-swell rolling by the helpless vessel1 and the sun setting angrily behind a bank of cloud2 or at the ,tivoli1 an imaginative classical landscape probably painted as a pendant to the ,arch of ,constantine4 ,the setting suggests the scenery of ,tivoli2 but when ,turner's imagination was fired1 he cared little about topographical accuracy4 ,that day ,i waited until closing time1 loth to leave these visions1 noting with what art he had piled the chrome on the white ground in ,sunrise1 with a ,boat between ,headlands1 the delicacy of the faint hues1 the gold in the sky1 the gold on the cliff1 splashed yonder with blue1 and the golden boat sailing ever on4 ,the hour drew near five4 ,the attendant appeared1 drew the curtains one by one over the sunshine pictures1 hiding them with red hangings1 all but the four large valedictory scenes from classical mythology1 and the other splendid failures which have no curtains4 ,when ,i left the ,gallery and stood upon the terrace overlooking the ,thames and thence towards ,chelsea1 ,i saw1 in the mind's eye1 the print published after ,turner's death that ,i had picked years ago from a twopenny portfolio in the ,brompton ,road1 showing the little house by ,cremorne ,pier where he died1 under the assumed name of ,booth4 ,the sun shines upon the building4 ,the ,thames flows in front of it4 ,it is said that as long as strength held he would rise at daybreak1 and wrapped in a blanket1 stand upon the roof watching the colour flush the eastern sky4 ,illustration3 ,,plate ,,viii4--,,tivoli4 7,from the oil painting by ,turner in the ,tate ,gallery7 ,an imaginative classical landscape probably painted as a pendant to the ,arch of ,constantine1 ,rome1 which also hangs in the ,tate ,gallery4 ,it has been suggested that the phantom figures are ,tobit and the ,angel4 ,the setting suggests the scenery of ,tivoli2 but when ,turner's imagination was fired1 he cared little about topographical or historical accuracy4 ,the ,chelsea hiding-place was discovered1 but he was sinking when a friend found him4 ,he died on ,december #ah1 #ahea1 at the window1 looking upon the river1 propped upon his couch4 ,a full1 and1 ,i think1 with occasional lapses--the lot of all--a happy life1 for his work never ceased to be less than absorbing4 ,he died in the light1 having run his race to the goal4 ,the account of that dinner at ,david ,roberts' house1 not long before his death1 when he tried to propose his host's health1 ran short of words and breath1 and dropped down in his chair1 with a hearty laugh1 starting again1 and finishing with a 'hip1 hip1 hurrah6' shows that the power to enjoy1 and the sense of fun1 had not withdrawn from the solitary genius1 the very moral of a master carpenter1 with lobster red face1 large fluffy hat and enormous umbrella1 who wrestled with the sun1 read ,ovid1 and ,young's ,night ,thoughts1 tramped ,europe in pursuit of beauty1 and who was seen on the old ,margate steamer studying the movement of the water1 and the boiling foam in the wake of the ,magnet1 and making his luncheon off shrimps strewn over an immense red handkerchief spread across his knee--,turner4 ,,postscript ,,turner ,,and ,,two ,,others ,climbing the stairs to the flat1 ,i passed a girl who was toiling upwards4 ,pressing the button of the electric bell ,i watched her ascend the last flight4 ,she paused4 ,i inferred that our destination was the same1 noted that she carried a satchel1 a thick notebook1 and a paper-covered sixpenny reprint4 ,mildly curious as to the title of the novel1 ,i dissembled1 and read ,endeavours after the ,christian ,life1 by ,james ,martineau4 ,therewith the stone staircase faded away1 the stone walls opened to the past1 and ,i saw my youth1 and the figure of my father returning one night to the old home1 his face illumined1 his eyes shining2 heard again the earnest words between him and my mother2 how he had been at ,martineau's valedictory address1 how with the teacher's communication telling of deep things of the spirit moving within him he had avoided friends1 unable to return suddenly to earth1 and how he had walked home as if with wings4 ,those were the days when the ,endeavours was a costly1 exclusive1 and somewhat revolutionary book4 ,a few quick years1 and lo6 it becomes one of ,allenson's sixpenny series1 bought by the hundred thousand4 ,the door of the flat opened1 ,martineau slept again with his forefathers1 the saints of all time1 and the girl and ,i passed into the modest room dedicated to one who was no saint4 ,yet ,i do not know4 ,if a saint be he who by his life makes this world for others more wonderful1 more beautiful and better worth living in1 then ,joseph ,mallord ,william ,turner was a saint4 ,which is strange4 ,i did not speak of saints to our hostess1 for ,turner is her god1 and a god is greater than a half-god4 ,there is one severe note in her room--the bust of ,csar on a pedestal2 all the rest is beauty--sheer beauty4 ,i wonder what a far-horizon ,colonial1 who had never seen ,turner's later water-colours1 would feel in this room2 walls covered with sensitive copies of those flushes of radiant colour1 waning blue dawns1 purple mysteries of eve1 sunlighted ,swiss lakes1 dream buildings1 rainbow reaches of the ,rhine1 opalescent distances stretching past headlands into infinity4 ,the head of ,csar1 from his tall pedestal1 surveyed these lyrics in colour1 as strange to him as would have been the ,endeavours after the ,christian ,life1 that paper book1 tightly clutched1 hidden from view1 in a girl's hand4 ,then twilight came1 the lamp was lighted1 and ,i went away to carry out an idea that had just shaped itself4 ,i had never seen the house in ,queen ,anne ,street where ,turner lived with ,mrs4 ,danby and the cats4 ,should ,i find the house changed--houses rather1 for he owned three1 two in ,harley ,street1 and one in ,queen ,anne ,street1 communicating mysteriously at the back1 and leaving the corner building in other hands4 ,as ,i walked through the ,bloomsbury ,squares ,i thought not of ,turner1 but of another1 a man1 very old1 very frail1 bent almost double1 with the face of a spirit and the eye of a seer1 whom years ago ,i had met on this very spot1 creeping round the railings which encircle the grass and trees--,james ,martineau1 still lingering in the world which his spirit had long outsoared4 ,i saw1 in the mind's eye1 that shrivelled octogenarian figure1 and ,i asked at three shops for the ,endeavours after the ,christian ,life1 found it in the fourth1 and under lamp-post and by lighted windows1 turned the familiar pages and read fragments4 ,the chapter headings stirred old thoughts1 and there was one passage in the discourse on ,immortality that seemed the voice of the dead murmuring as ,i went westward through the dark squares1 saying that we see here only the partial operation of a higher law1 that we witness no extinction1 but simply migrations of the mind1 which survives to fulfil its high offices elsewhere1 and find perhaps in seeming death its true nativity4 ,as ,i walked that voice stilled the tumult of the traffic1 companioned me through unfamiliar streets1 until ,i knew by the brass plates on the doors1 and the lighted rooms shining through holland blinds in upper stories1 that ,i was in ,harley ,street1 and near to ,turner's house4 ,which was it8 ,a frock-coated1 shining-hatted1 prosperous personage1 carrying a small black bag1 was inserting a latch-key in one of the brass plate doors4 ,as ,i advanced1 his black bag swung up to cover his watch-chain4 ,which was ,turner's house8 said ,i4 ,turner6 ,what ,turner8 ,was he a medical man8 ,no6 the great ,turner1 ,i mean the ,painter4 ,he collected himself1 reflected1 and said3 ,ah6 ,i do remember something6 ,yes1 there is a tablet on the house yonder4 ,i peered up at the dwelling and saw1 half way to the roof1 a medallion1 and the lamplight shining upon the first letters of the name ,turner4 ,this was the house of him who interpreted the feel of ,nature1 the movement of sea and wind1 the glory of the sun1 the mystery of its veiled face1 the pomp of the world1 the magic influence of light so transcendently that we say3 ,yes6 this magician was initiate6 ,this queer ,englishman was near to the eternal dream of his ,maker4 ,as ,i stood in the dark street and looked up at ,turner's house1 the ,shades gathered about me4 ,a wizard in words joined this son of a ,london barber1 and that saint whose works have gone into a sixpenny edition4 ,this was the house that ,ruskin knew4 ,behind these walls1 were stored the pictures and water-colours in praise of which the most eloquent1 the most inspiring1 the most wilful and bewildering book that has ever been written upon art1 was composed4 ,book8 ,a library6 ,the index alone of ,modern ,painters fills one volume4 ,on the doorstep of this house ,turner once stood and said to his disciple1 who was about to start forth on a foreign tour--,don't make your parents anxious4 ,they'll be in such a fidge about you4 ,he did not understand literary enthusiasm1 and ,i doubt if he ever read a page of the copy of ,the ,stones of ,venice that ,ruskin presented to him4 ,three ghosts in a walk through ,london6 ,three great figures that trailed through the nineteenth century--a wizard in paint1 a wizard in words1 a wizard in holiness4 ,which is the greatest8 ,ruskin and ,martineau explained1 taught1 chided1 interpreted1 and uplifted4 ,turner just acted1 was content merely to express himself1 to state his wonder at the wonder of the world4 ,is not his influence the most enduring8 ,a man of few words and those mostly incoherent1 who taught nothing1 believed nothing1 gazed on the sun with hope1 and did superhuman things4 ,his prayers were his pictures4 ,the plates are printed by ,,bemrose ,,sons1 ,,ltd41 ,derby and ,london ,the text at the ,,ballantyne ,,press1 ,edinburgh ,transcriber's notes3 ,the following is a list of changes made to the original4 ,the first line is the original line1 the second the corrected one4 depreciated4 ,vandevelde made me a painter depreciated4 ,vandevelde made me a painter1 painter the world has known1 painted them painter the world has known1 painted them4