The Life of J. M. W. Turner 2 Volume Set: Founded on Letters and Papers Furnished by his Friends and Fellow Academicians

by Walter Thornbury

Overview

This pioneering two-volume biography, first published in 1862, explores the genius of the groundbreaking Romantic landscape and historical painter J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851). As both journalist and historian, author Walter Thornbury (1828–76) has a light touch, yet he draws on a wide range of correspondence, sketchbooks, watercolours and etchings to give a detailed picture of Turner's artistic development and connections, and his increasingly eccentric character. Volume 1 traces the artist's progress from humble cockney beginnings to his establishment as a Royal Academician at the heart of the nineteenth-century art world. Volume 2 fills out the record by detailing the artist's relationships with patrons such as Lord Egremont of Petworth House, and such fellow Royal Academicians as the sculptor Sir Francis Chantrey. Advised by Ruskin not to try to 'mask the dark side' of his subject, Thornbury presents a rounded but still admiring picture of his hero.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781108059442
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/14/2013
Series:	Cambridge Library Collection - Art and Architecture
Pages:	882
Product dimensions:	5.51(w) x 8.90(h) x 2.28(d)

Table of Contents

Volume 1: Preface; 1. The curtain rises; 2. The London of Turner's boyhood; 3. The sky painter; 4. Love and ambition; 5. Turner's contemporaries in water and oil; 6. Turner and Girtin at Dr Munro's; 7. Turner's friendly rival, Girtin; 8. Turner, the drawing-master; 9. Rise and progress of water-colour painting in England; 10. Turner in Yorkshire; 11. Turner in Scotland; 12. Turner's home and foreign tours; 13. Turner's work for the engravers; 14. Turner's art life (1); 15. The 'Liber studiorum'; 16. Turner's art life (2); 17. Turner's art life: second period, 1820–35; 18. The Polyphemus: 1829; 19. Turner's art life, continued; 20. The old Téméraire; 21. Turner's art life: concluded; 22. Turner's note-books and sketches; 23. Turner's prices. Volume 2: 1. Turner at Petworth; 2. Turner's poetry; 3. Turner's friends and contemporaries; 4. Turner and the Royal Academy; 5. Turner's character; 6. Turner at Queen Anne Street; 7. The origin of several pictures; 8. Turner on varnishing days; 9. Mr Ruskin and the Turner critics; 10. Turner as a correspondent; 11. Turner's Venetian pictures; 12. The business man; 13. Turner and Chantrey; 14. Thirst for knowledge in old age; 15. The Artists' Benevolent Fund; 16. Twilight; 17. The Turner portraits; 18. Turner's genius; Appendix.