[PART THREE]
1804-1810
FROM 'THE SHIPWRECK' TO AN EARLY GOLDEN VISION
[CHAPTER XI]
1804: AGED TWENTY-NINE
HE STUDIES AN ECLIPSE AND PAINTS THE SUNSET
Throughout his life Turner produced, apart from the water-colours for the engravers, which number nearly nine hundred examples, two kinds of work—the pictures done for fame, and those for his own delight—a 'Calais Pier,' and a 'Stonehenge at Sunset': a 'Jason' and a 'Norham Castle.' It is hard to believe that the broad and simple water-colour, 'Stonehenge at Sunset,' with the magnificent sky, was done about the same time as the 'Calais Pier,' but it was 'Calais Pier' that made Turner known to the public.
Henceforth he was rarely in want of commissions from influential patrons, including the Earls of Egremont, Essex, Lonsdale and Yarborough, Sir John Leicester, Sir John Soane and others. He did not always sell his oil pictures; indeed, as the years went on they remained in increasing numbers on his hands; but that was partly his own desire. Turner was always loath to part with his 'children.' The bulk of his fortune was made out of the engravings.