J. M. W. TURNER is one of the most famous and acclaimed painters in the land. If you want to dig deeper, visit his now-open home in Twickenham. By Amanda Hodges
For a painter whose creed was “Light is therefore colour,” Italy would always beguile and it proved pivotal for landscape artist J.M.W. Turner. Just why his first trip in 1819 was so seminal is currently explored within the exhibition Seeing The Light, held in the beautiful setting of Turner’s House in Twickenham, the place that he, once an aspiring architect, conceived himself.
Exhibition curator Dr Carly Collier says, “It’s been special to think about Turner’s watercolours, his practice and life in the unique setting of Turner’s only 3D artwork; the house he designed, enjoyed and knew so well.” And House Director Dr Matthew Morgan explains the role it fulfils for contemporary visitors: “One of the purposes of the house is that it allows us to think about Turner as a man. You go to the Tate or National Gallery and see the paintings, his public side. Here it’s an opportunity to engage with him on a more personal level.”
Nestled within what was once Sandycombe Lodge, his rural retreat in Twickenham, the exhibition offers an opportunity to view beloved cities like Rome and Venice (the latter a recurrent subject) through Turner’s eyes in watercolours dating from his first Italian foray, chronicling his evolving use of light in a place rapturously dubbed “the land of all bliss.”
In 1819 Turner finally embarked upon his first artistic pilgrimage to Italy. As a young man, prospects of the Grand Tour were thwarted by finances and by the turmoil of the French Revolution, so although he’d briefly visited in 1802 it wasn’t until his forties that a substantial trip became feasible.
Like any seasoned traveller, Dr Morgan says of Turner, “We know he planned meticulously for all journeys, whether in Britain or the Continent.” Inspired by a land which represented the apotheosis of cultural inspiration, he also intended “to follow in the ▸ footsteps of his great artistic hero, [fashionable 17th-century] artist Claude Lorrain,” whose use of light he emulated.
Arriving in Italy armed with sketchbooks and annotated guidebooks after a long, arduous journey, Turner was “just hit by the wonderful light,” travelling across the country from July 1819 to February 1820. He discovered reality surpassed his wildest expectations. Sadly, nothing extant records these impressions but the subsequent return ti
