A complex figure, and divisive during his lifetime, Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) has long been considered Britain’s greatest painter. The new biography of the artist, Young Mr. Turner: The First Forty Years, 1775-1815, gives a comprehensive and engaging account of Turner’s early life, drawing together recent scholarship, correcting errors
Peter John Brownlee– Picturing the Americas: Landscape Painting from Tierra del Fuego to the Arctic culminates nearly five years of collaboration and cross-cultural exchange. Featuring essays by 48 scholars from across the Americas, the book reflects the dialogic manner in which the exhibition and catalogue came together. Developed over the
When we think of J.M.W. Turner, we think of those evocative, ghostly landscapes, where ships, cliffs and trains emerge out of nowhere, half-hidden by mist and rain. We also think of quintessentially British scenes, replete with industry, romanticism and intemperate weather. We also think of light. Turner, known as ‘the
When art goes missing, the case can monopolize headlines and excite theories and gossip. Was it stolen? Destroyed? Does it have something to do with The Da Vinci Code? Mark D. Mitchell’s George Inness in Italy is inspired by the rediscovery of a painting that had the misfortune of becoming “lost” in this rather dull way, having “languished” in storage for years, but was then rediscovered with great interest.
“What are men to rocks and mountains?” Elizabeth Bennett asks her aunt in Pride and Prejudice. Although Lizzy wants to deceive herself after “disappointment” regarding certain men, some artists would wholeheartedly agree with her, at least regarding their paintings’ subjects. Rocks and mountains, as well as forests, snow, and rivers,