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Turner

By Eric Shanes

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Length2h 18m

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At fifteen, Turner was already exhibiting View of Lambeth. He soon acquired the reputation of an immensely clever watercolourist. A disciple of Girtin and Cozens, he showed in his choice and presentation of theme a picturesque imagination which seemed to mark him out for a brilliant career as an illustrator. He travelled, first in his native land and then on several occasions in France, the Rhine Valley, Switzerland and Italy. He soon began to look beyond illustration. However, even in works in which we are tempted to see only picturesque imagination, there appears his dominant and guiding ideal of lyric landscape. His choice of a single master from the past is an eloquent witness for he studied profoundly such canvases of Claude as he could find in England, copying and imitating them with a marvellous degree of perfection. His cult for the great painter never failed. He desired his Sun Rising through Vapour and Dido Building Carthage to be placed in the National Gallery side by side with two of Claude’s masterpieces. And, there, we may still see them and judge how legitimate was this proud and splendid homage. It was only in 1819 that Turner went to Italy, to go again in 1829 and 1840. Certainly Turner experienced emotions and found subjects for reverie which he later translated in terms of his own genius into symphonies of light and colour. Ardour is tempered with melancholy, as shadow strives with light. Melancholy, even as it appears in the enigmatic and profound creation of Albrecht Dürer, finds no home in Turner’s protean fairyland – what place could it have in a cosmic dream? Humanity does not appear there, except perhaps as stage characters at whom we hardly glance. Turner’s pictures fascinate us and yet we think of nothing precise, nothing human, only unforgettable colours and phantoms that lay hold on our imaginations. Humanity really only inspires him when linked with the idea of death – a strange death, more a lyrical dissolution – like the finale of an opera.

Nature & Wilderness Poetic Journey Exploration Coming of Age Identity Family

Audiobook details

GenreOther

Length2 hrs 18 mins

Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices

FormateBook with Audio

LanguageEnglish

1Introduction

63More Park, Near Watford, on the Colne, 1822

2Self-Portrait, c. 1798

64Dover Castle, 1822

3Biography

65The Battle of Trafalgar, 1822-1824

4Folly Bridge and Bacon’s Tower, Oxford, 1787

66The Bay of Baiae: Apollo and the Sibyl, RA 1823

5Harewood House from the South-East, 1798

67Rye, Sussex, c. 1823

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6The Archbishop’s Palace, Lambeth, RA 1790

68A Storm (Shipwreck), 1823

7Interior of King John’s Palace, Eltham, c. 1791

69Roslin Castle, 1823

8The Pantheon, the Morning after the Fire, RA 1792

70Grenoble Bridge, 1824

9Tom Tower, Christ Church, Oxford, 1792

71Prudhoe Castle, Northumberland, c. 1825

10St Anselm’s Chapel, with part of Thomas-à-Becket’s Crown Canterbury Cathedral, RA 1794

72Venice: the Grand Canal Looking Towards the Dogana, c. 1840

11Fishermen at Sea, RA 1796

73Portsmouth, c. 1825

12Llandaff Cathedral, South Wales, RA 1796

74Forum Romanum, for Mr Soane’s Museum, RA 1826

13Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, RA 1796

75The Seat of William Moffatt, Esq. at Mortlake, Early (Summer’s) Morning, RA 1826

14Trancept of Ewenny Priory, Glamorganshire, RA 1797

76Mortlake Terrace, the Seat of William Moffatt, Esq. Summer’s Evening, RA 1827

15Self-Portrait, 1798

77The Artist and His Admirers, c. 1827

16The Dormitory and Transept of Fountains Abbey – Evening, 1798

78Yarmouth, 1827

17View of Salisbury Cathedral from the Bishop’s Garden, 1798

79Scene on the Loire (near the Coteaux de Mauves), c. 1828-30

18Abergavenny Bridge, Monmouthshire, Clearing up after a Showery Day, 1799

80Petworth Park, with Lord Egremont and His Dogs; Sample Study, c. 1828

19Constance, 1842

81Petworth Park, c. 1828-30

20Dolbadern Castle, North Wales, 1800

82Kilgarren Castle, Pembrokeshire, 1828

21Caernarvon Castle, North Wales, RA 1800

83Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, 1828

22Sunshine on the Tamar, 1800

84West Cowes, Isle of Wight, 1828

23Dutch Boats in a Gale: Fishermen Endeavouring to Put Their Fish on Board (‘The Bridgewater Seapiece’), RA 1801

85Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus - Homer’s Odyssey, RA 1829

24Interior of Salisbury Cathedral, Looking Towards the North Transept, c. 1802-05

86Messieurs les Voyageurs on Their Return from Italy (par la diligence) in a Snow Drift on Mount Tarrar – 22nd of January 1829, RA 1829

25South View from the Cloisters, Salisbury Cathedral, c. 1802

87Northampton, Northamptonshire, 1830-31

26Calais Pier, with French Fishermen Preparing for Sea: an English Packet Arriving, RA 1803

88Rise of the River Stour at Stourhead, 1824

27High Street, Oxford, 1803

89Coriskin Lake, c. 1832

28Richmond Hill, c. 1825

90Scio (Fontana de Melek, Mehmet Pasha), c. 1832

29The Passage of Mount St Gothard, Taken from the Centre of the Teufels Broch (Devil’s Bridge), Switzerland

91Mouth of the Seine, Quille-Boeuf, RA 1833

30The Shipwreck, 1805

92Brinkburn Priory, Northumberland, 1830

31The Thames near Walton Bridges, c. 1805

93A Town on a River at Sunset, 1833

32Sun Rising Through Vapour; Fishermen Cleaning and Selling Fish, RA 1807

94The Golden Bough, RA 1834

33Pope’s Villa at Twickenham, 1808

95Valley of the Brook Kedron, 1834

34Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire, 1809

96Temple of Minerva Sunias, Cape Colonna, 1834

35The Fall of an Avalanche in the Grisons, 1810

97The Burning of the Houses of Parliament, B.I. 1835

36The Wreck of a Transport Ship, c. 1810

98Venice, from the Porch of Madonna Della Salute, RA 1835

37Snow Storm: Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps, RA 1812

99Flint Castle, North Wales, c. 1835

38Frontispiece of ‘Liber Studiorum’, 1812

100The Fighting ‘Téméraire’ Tugged to Her Last Berth to be Broken Up, 1838, RA 1839

39Mer de Glace, in the Valley of Chamouni, Switzerland, c. 1814

101Music, 1835

40Dido Building Carthage; or, the Rise of the Carthaginian Empire, RA 1815

102Scène in Val d’Aoste, c. 1836

41Crossing the Brook, 1815

103Snow Storm, Avalanche and Inundation – a Scene in the Upper Part of Val d’Aouste, Piedmont, RA 1837

42Norham Castle on the Tweed, 1816

104Ancient Rome: Agrippina Landing with the Ashes of Germanicus The Triumphal Bridge and Palace of the Caesars Restored, RA 1839

43The Temple of Jupiter Panellenius Restored, RA 1816

105Modern Italy: the Pifferaris, RA 1838

44The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire – Rome being determined on the Overthrow of her Hated Rival, demanded from her such Terms as might either force her into War, or ruin her by Compliance: the Enervated Carthaginians, in their Anxiety for Peace, consented to give up even their Arms or their Children, RA 1817

106Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying – Typhoon Coming on, RA 1840

45Crook of Lune, Looking Towards Hornby Castle, c. 1817

107Snow Storm – Steam-Boat off a Harbour’s Mouth Making Signals in Shallow Water, and Going by the Lead, RA 1842

46Mount Vesuvius in Eruption, 1817

108Rain, Steam and Speed – the Great Western Railway, RA 1844

47Marxbourg and Brugberg on the Rhine, 1820

109Venice: A Storm in the Piazzetta, c. 1840

48Mosel Bridge at Coblenz, 1817

110View on a Cross-Canal near the Arsenal, 1840

49First-Rate, Taking in Stores, 1818

111The Lake of Geneva with the Dent d’Oche: Tending the Vines, 1841

50Dort, or Dordrecht, The Dort Packet-Boat from Rotterdam Becalmed, RA 1818