I have said that this exhibition was neither superior nor inferior to its immediate predecessors, but to say that it was not inferior was to give it very high praise. The exhibition, indeed, was one which would have done credit to any of our public galleries. The array of Turner’s masterpieces on the long south wall of the gallery produced an overpowering sense of his incomparable technical skill, his boundless energy, and the infinite variety of his mind. In the centre of the wall, in a place of honour, was enthroned the regal Lake Nemi ([Plate XV]), resplendent with something brighter than the sunshine of Italy, a gorgeous and intoxicating dream of sensuous beauty. Beneath it hung the awe-inspiring Longships Lighthouse ([Plate XIII]), and on the right the beautiful and pathetic “Blue Rigi” ([Plate XVII]), tender and wistful, in which the helplessness and restlessness of old age only made more manifest the sorrows and regrets with which the painter’s heart was filled. Grouped round these great masterpieces of his full strength and waning powers were works of his early manhood, like the Cassiobury ([Plate V]), with its horses and dogs, a robust jovial scene, the Lake of Thun ([Plate VI]), the restrained and elegant Castle of Chillon ([Plate VII]), the dainty, coquettish Scarborough, several of the Rhine drawings of 1817, and many of his proudest and most exultant drawings, like the Byronic Florence, from near San Miniato ([Plate XVI]), the Saumur ([Plate X]), and the Saltash ([Plate XXI]), Prudhoe ([Plate XXII]), Richmond Bridge ([Plate XI]), Windsor Castle, Coventry, and the somewhat operatic Worcester ([Plate XII]), of the “England and Wales” series; nor must I forget the impressive Lowestoft, a grey and gloomy tragedy as grim and moving even as the Longships.
And as no man stands alone—not even the greatest of geniuses—the educational value of this array of masterpieces was increased by a fine display of the works of those English water-colour painters who had been born and had worked before Turner, and of his contemporaries. The early topographical draughtsmen whom Turner first set out to imitate and rival, were represented by Paul Sandby’s The Swan Inn, Edmonton ([Plate XXV]), Thomas Hearne’s Thaxted Church, Essex, Thomas Malton Junior’s two quaint views of Bath, and many other drawings, mostly in the “stained” manner, by Wheatley, J. I. Richards, Ibbetson, William Payne, Dayes and others. Richard Wilson, the chief influence in directing Turner’s genius to imaginative design, was perforce unrepresented, as he does not seem to have worked in water-colour; but Gainsborough was represented by one of his charming drawings in chalk, and there was a noble group of nine of John R. Cozens’s austerely beautiful drawings, among them the large Lake Albano, and the charming Villa Negroni ([Plate XXIX]). Turner’s contemporaries were well represented by over seventy drawings, which included three of his friend Girtin’s early works, and at least one fine example of his robust maturity—a masterly view of the ruined Lady Chapel of Fountains Abbey. Cotman had two fine early Girtinesque drawings, Gormire Lake, Yorkshire ([Plate XXXIV]), and Bridge over River ([Plate XXXIII]), a nobly designed Lake Scene ([Plate XXXVI]), in monochrome, and a brilliantly coloured view of Rouen ([Plate XXXV]). There were also two of Copley Fielding’s most ambitious sea-pieces—The Pilot Boat ([Plate XLII]) and Seaford from Newhaven Pier, and a number of admirable drawings by De Wint, David Cox, Varley and Prout.
After being got together with much labour and thought, and having served its purpose for a month or two, this exhibition seemed destined to suffer the usual fate of such undertakings, which is to be speedily dispersed and soon forgotten. It occurred, however, to the Editor of The Studio that a permanent record of it would make a strong appeal to many of those who had seen and enjoyed the exhibition, and would enable a large number of those lovers of British water-colours who had not been able to visit Messrs. Agnew’s gallery to realize something of its interest and beauty.
Such is the origin, such is the purpose of the present volume. It was naturally gratifying to me to be invited to supply the text for such a work. But the value of a book like this depends very little on its letterpress, and much on its illustrations. The colour processes have in recent years made extraordinary progress and the reproductions of the wonderful drawings collected by Messrs. Agnew will be sure of a very hearty and a very wide welcome.
THE TURNERS
As Turner’s drawings formed the chief feature of the exhibition I will begin my comments with them. The best way to arrange my notes seems to be to take the drawings in their chronological order, disregarding the sequence in which they were hung in the exhibition. By beginning in this way, with the earlier drawings, we shall be able to study the gradual development of Turner’s mind and skill.
[A] 128. Church of St. Lawrence, Evesham, as seen through Tower Gateway, 1793.
139. Old Abbey, Evesham, 1793 ([Plate I]).
These two subjects were sketched during the summer of 1792, when Turner was seventeen years of age. He was then a student at the Royal Academy schools, where he attended the life class diligently during the winter and spring months. In the early part of the summer of 1792, he went to Bristol to visit his uncle’s friends, the Narraways, and went from there to South Wales, Hereford, Great Malvern, Worcester, Evesham, Tewkesbury and Gloucester. Several of the pencil drawings made during this tour were exhibited some years ago at Mr. Walker’s gallery in Bond Street.
These two highly finished and accomplished water-colours are good examples of the work of the industrious apprentice. One searches them in vain for signs of originality, for some promise of a new way of thinking or feeling, a new vision, or a new form of expression. Their aims are conventional, and their modest triumphs are triumphs of the commonplace virtues—intelligence, docility, and above all, industry working upon a foundation of natural talent. In them Turner was trying to do exactly what the successful topographical and antiquarian draughtsmen of the day were doing,—Sandby, Rooker, Hearne and Dayes—and the precocious boy has already succeeded in doing such work nearly as well as it can be done.