Turner Watercolours

- Blurb -

Turner's lifetime (1775-1851) was also the classic age of Englishwatercolour, and his mastery and perfection of the medium coincidedwith its establishment as an independent art form. This volumeexamines the unique body of watercolours Turner produced.Few can doubt that J.M.W. Turner was the greatest exponent ofEnglish watercolour in its golden age. An inveterate traveller in searchof the ideal vista, he rarely left home without a rolled up, looseboundsketchbook, pencils and a small travelling case of watercoloursin his pocket. He exploited as no one before him the medium'sluminosity and transparency, conjuring light effects on Englishmeadows and Venetian lagoons and gauzy mists over mountains andlakes. Extraordinary in his own time, he has continued to thrill hiscountless admirers since.David Blayney Brown, one of the world's leading experts on Turner,reveals the role watercolours played in Turner's life and work, fromthose he sent for exhibition to the Royal Academy to the privateoutpourings in which he compulsively experimented with light andcolour, which for a modern audience are among his most radical andaccomplished works.