Joseph Mallord William Turner

British, 1775 - 1851

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English painter and draftsman (c.1775–1851)

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Butter-yellow clouds and water, a periwinkle-blue sky, and pale plum-purple buildings blend in hazy, indistinct bands across this horizontal landscape painting. The paint is thickly applied in some areas, especially along the top of the sky, and the scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes throughout. The blurry horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition and the small, round, white sun shines low in the sky to our left. The sky or clouds around the sun are painted with shades of pale sapphire-blue with touches of lavender, which give way to a lemon-yellow clouds or haze in the right two-thirds of the sky. Buildings along the horizon, deep in the distance across the right three-quarters of the canvas, are loosely painted with vertical swipes of heather pink and cream white. The water, closest to us, reflects the yellow of the sky with additional touches of celery green. Brown boats spaced along the harbor carry people and objects away from us, toward the town.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, Approach to Venice, 1844, oil on canvas, Andrew W. Mellon Collection, 1937.1.110

Approach to Venice

Joseph Mallord William Turner · 1844 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1937.1.110

A butter-yellow sky fills the top two-thirds of this square landscape painting while in the bottom third, a brown structure is surrounded by golden yellow and pine-green forms like clouds. The scene is loosely painted with visible brushstrokes, so much of the detail is indistinct, and the view seems hazy. Clouds spiral around the sun or moon, painted as a pale yellow disk, hanging in the center of the sky. The golden yellow clouds near the center darken to slate gray then rust brown, and nearly wine red along the top edge. A flock of birds painted as a dense band of navy and denim-blue Vs curve around the sun and continue into the deep distance. Below, touches of burgundy red and brown could indicate people or animals around the arched, copper-brown structure. Cloud-like puffs in forest green and golden yellow could be a forest or wildly crashing waves. A few faint outlines in this area suggest a bear, crocodile, giraffe, and maybe other ghostly creatures.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Evening of the Deluge, c. 1843, oil on canvas, Timken Collection, 1960.6.40

The Evening of the Deluge

Joseph Mallord William Turner · c. 1843 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1960.6.40

Through a golden haze and across an expanse of gently rippling water dotted with boats, ghostly ivory and parchment-white buildings rise along a distant shore in this loosely painted horizontal landscape. The misty horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition, and the sky above is mostly butter yellow with a few touches of shell pink, and a patch of topaz blue in the upper left corner. Closest to us, in the lower right corner, several honey-yellow boats are pulled up to a parchment-white dock. Touches of charcoal gray, peacock green, ruby red, and mauve pink suggest cloth or other objects filling the boats and piled on the corner of the dock. A few strokes of white, blush pink, and brick red suggest several people beyond a low wall or other structure to our right. Farther back and to our left, streaks and swipes of coral red, pale yellow, and gold suggest boats along a dock. Along the horizon, in the distance opposite us, there is a golden-yellow building with a tower on its front façade. Beyond this building, a cream-white structure with two tall domes rises against the sky. Along the horizon to either side, blended smudges of lilac purple, rose pink, and aquamarine blue suggest more buildings and boats. The buildings and boats are reflected in the loosely painted, straw-yellow water. The artist signed the painting as if he had written his initials on the wall near the lower right corner, “JMWT.”
Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, 1843, oil on canvas, Given in memory of Governor Alvan T. Fuller by The Fuller Foundation, Inc., 1961.2.3

The Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute, Venice

Joseph Mallord William Turner · 1843 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1961.2.3

We look down onto a grass-topped promontory that gives way to a vast, hazy river valley in this horizontal watercolor. A dozen men, women, children, and babies rest in small groups or work near grapevines to our right on the promontory. They all have pale, peachy skin and wear garments in off white, royal blue, pink, beige, or gray. Rakes, barrels, cloth, and other equipment are piled to our left. The land dips steeply down beyond the pile to a slender, tall white tower. Opposite it, to our right, a grove of tall, spindly trees partially hides a brown stone, crenelated tower. The land drops steeply down from there to a deep, wide river valley. Flanking the waterway, mounded hills mottled with harvest yellow, laurel green, and pinkish-beige lighten to icy blue in the distance. Buildings tucked among the hills and ships on the river are suggested with indistinct strokes or scratches on the paper, and a few tufts of smoke rising from chimneys or smokestacks. The horizon comes two thirds of the way up the composition. A white glow across the center of the sky deepens to lapis blue at the edges. The artist signed and dated the lower right corner, “JMWT 1840.”
Joseph Mallord William Turner, Oberwesel, 1840, watercolor and gouache over graphite with scratching-out, Paul Mellon Fund, 2007.77.1

Oberwesel

Joseph Mallord William Turner · 1840 · watercolor and gouache over graphite with scratching-out ·  Accession ID  2007.77.1

About a dozen people, tiny in scale, flail their arms or huddle in small groups in a vast, mountainous landscape in this gold-toned, horizontal painting. A grassy expanse stretches across the bottom edge the canvas into the middle distance, where it meets steep hills separated by deep valleys. White water, falls or rivers, separate some of the mounds. Two tall branches of a sparse, V-shaped tree cut into the sky to our right. The horizon comes about halfway up the composition, and the landscape and people are painted loosely so details are difficult to make out. The people cluster in two groups in the landscape, which is painted with tones of eucalyptus and laurel green. To our left, a person runs from what appears to be a fire-lined opening in the ground. A basket, a set of pan pipes, perhaps a cloak, and maybe some tools are gathered near the tree to our right. A walled building complex high on a flat hilltop in the distance is warmed to peanut brown by the setting sun. A blanket of dark buttercup-yellow and rust-orange clouds mostly hides an icy blue sky.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, The Rape of Proserpine, 1839, oil on canvas, Gift of Mrs. Watson B. Dickerman, 1951.18.1

The Rape of Proserpine

Joseph Mallord William Turner · 1839 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1951.18.1

Joseph Mallord William Turner, A Packet Boat off Dover, c. 1836, watercolor and gouache with touches of black chalk on gray wove paper, laid down, Paul Mellon Collection, 1986.72.18

A Packet Boat off Dover

Joseph Mallord William Turner · c. 1836 · watercolor and gouache with touches of black chalk on gray wove paper, laid down ·  Accession ID  1986.72.18

We hover over a flax-yellow body of water lined with ships to our left and right, which are silhouetted against a moonlit, cloud-veiled sky in this horizontal landscape painting. The horizon comes about a third of the way up the composition. The moon hangs to our left of center in the sky, its light reflecting on the clouds in a bright, hourglass shape to create a tunnel-like effect. The sea below turns from a gold color close to us to pale blue along the horizon. To our left, one ship with gray sails is cut off by the edge of the canvas and another, also with gray sails, is situated farther from us. A small, dark rowboat with two passengers moves between them. Light from the windows in buildings along the distant horizon to our left reflect in the water, and another building, a factory, spouts white flame from its chimney. More dark ships line the waterway to our right, their spiky masts black against the sky. Three flames, one orange between two pale yellow fires, flare in the darkness in front of the ship closest to us. The forms of men shoveling coal, crates, and barges are dark silhouettes against the firelight and smoke. More rowboats float among the boats in the distance. Near the lower right corner of the canvas, a broad, flat fragment of wood floats close to us. The hot orange and black on the right side of the painting contrasts with the silvery gray, light blue, and white that fills much of the rest of the composition. The painting was created with thick, blended brushstrokes throughout, giving the scene a hazy look. The texture of some of the brushstrokes is especially noticeable, as where the moon casts white light onto the water and in the clouds. The artist signed a buoy floating to our left with his initials, “JMWT.”
Joseph Mallord William Turner, Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight, 1835, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.86

Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight

Joseph Mallord William Turner · 1835 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.86

We look across a glittering waterway lined with long, low boats and sailboats at an ivory-white church in the distance to our right in this horizontal landscape painting. The horizon line comes about a third of the way up the composition, and wispy white clouds sweep across the brilliant azure-blue sky above. A row of buildings comes into view lining the canal to our right, with a terracotta-orange building followed by a cream-white building beyond, both angled toward the church. The church has a high dome rising over the temple-like front, which has columns supporting a triangular pediment. A tall bell tower rises to the left of the church. The low boats, gondolas, to our left are packed with people while a few gondolas floating in the center of the canal appear occupied only by their gondoliers who stand holding their poles. Painted in tones of ivory and peach, the sails of boats behind the gondolas to our left billow in the breeze while the sails of vessels docked to our right are furled. The structures, boats, and people cast shimmering reflections on the gently rippling surface of the water in the canal. Rows of boats and buildings lining the canal extend into the deep, hazy distance to our left.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, Venice: The Dogana and San Giorgio Maggiore, 1834, oil on canvas, Widener Collection, 1942.9.85

Venice: The Dogana and San Giorgio Maggiore

Joseph Mallord William Turner · 1834 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1942.9.85

A passenger boat, its bright tan sails reflecting the sun, careens among choppy water with at least eight more sailboats and a town along the water’s edge in the distance in this horizontal landscape painting. The water closest to us is muted slate blue, and it lightens as it extends to the horizon, which comes less than a quarter of the way up this composition. We look onto the long side of the passenger boat, at nine men, women, and children huddled in two groups there, in the lower center of the composition. The people wear black, white, red, or blue, and all seem to wear hats, though they are sketchily painted. Foamy, white crests lap at the long side of the tilted boat. Several larger ships with white sails unfurled float beyond to our left. To our right, seven flags and banners fly from a three-masted ship with its sails tied up. Two rows of more than a dozen black canons each poke through doors along the side we can see. It floats upright, closer to the distant town lining the water across the right half of the picture. The buildings are painted with strokes of white paint to create loose silhouettes. Loosely painted vertical strokes suggest more boats and ships lining the harbor. A bank of cream-white and some pale gray clouds fill most of the sky, breaking to reveal blue sky only in the upper right corner of the painting.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, Rotterdam Ferry-Boat, 1833, oil on canvas, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Collection, 1970.17.135

Rotterdam Ferry-Boat

Joseph Mallord William Turner · 1833 · oil on canvas ·  Accession ID  1970.17.135

Joseph Mallord William Turner, A Yorkshire River, c. 1827, watercolor on wove paper, Paul Mellon Collection, 1986.72.19

A Yorkshire River

Joseph Mallord William Turner · c. 1827 · watercolor on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1986.72.19

Bibliography

1862

  • Thornbury, Walter. The Life of J. M. W. Turner, R.A.. 2 vols. London, 1862 (2d ed., 1877).

1939

  • Finberg, A. J. The Life of J. M. W. Turner, R.A. Oxford, 1939 (2d ed., 1961).

1964

  • Kitson, Michael. Turner. New York, 1964.

1966

  • Gowing, Lawrence. Turner: Imagination and Reality. Exh. cat. Museum of Modern Art, New York, 1966.

1977

  • Butlin, Martin and Evelyn Joll. The Paintings of J. M. W. Turner. 2 vols. New Haven and London, 1977 (2d ed. rev., 1984).

1979

  • Wilton, Andrew. The Life and Work of J. M. W. Turner. London, 1979.

1984

  • Butlin, Martin, and Evelyn Joll. The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner. 2 vols. 2nd rev. ed. New Haven and London, [1977] 1984.

1987

  • Gage, John. J. M. W. Turner: "A Wonderful Range of Mind". New Haven and London, 1987.

1992

  • Hayes, John. British Paintings of the Sixteenth through Nineteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1992: 261-264.