The Turner Sketch-Books are as valuable, in their way, as, say, a discovery of diaries kept by Shakespeare from the day he first left Stratford to the hour he returned home full of honours and wisdom. Turner died in hiding—by choice; and, to our great advantage, he hoarded his Sketch-Books, as he hoarded his 'unfinished' works, meant only for his own eyes, those gleaming, grey-blue eyes that never lost their sparkle, and that saw and controlled his hand to paint a 'Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus' for fame, and a 'Teasing the Donkey at Petworth' for joy.
[CHAPTER LX]
TURNER AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY—AND CLAUDE. A LAST LOOK
Turner has not disappeared from the National Gallery; he still has a small shrine there. The oil pictures retained at the National Gallery, with 'Childe Harold's Pilgrimage' in the place of honour, show an aspect of his achievement, but not the progressive splendour of his genius. In this room hang the two famous works by Claude Lorrain. Every one knows the story, which has been told again in these pages, how Turner, long before his death, bequeathed 'The Sun Rising Through Vapour' and 'Dido Building Carthage' to the nation on the condition that they should hang for ever between two paintings by Claude. Turner outshone Claude in all other fields, as the sun outshines the moon, but he never conquered Claude in the particular classical garden that the Lorrainer cultivated. You may judge for yourself. There they hang, the two great Claudes, between the two great Turners, an arrangement sanctioned by the Court of Chancery; there, if the spirits of the departed do ever visit this earthly scene of competition and aspiration, these two purified souls should have a gallant and courteous encounter.
The twain would look gravely at the Turner pictures, and perhaps Turner would explain, if spirits need explanations, that the supreme work of his life is not here. But there are some works on the walls that would make Claude wonder.
Plate L. The "Sun of Venice" Going to Sea (1843) National Gallery