Other drawings of this period are the rich and forceful 'Bonneville, Savoy' in the Salting collection at the British Museum, a majestic water-colour; that vision of yellow foliage, blue water, and outstretched yellowy-blue country, 'The Lake of Nemi,' and the more academic 'Turin from the Church of the Superga,' the foreground with its artless groups not very attractive, but the distant glimpse of the snow mountains, and the white fleecy clouds seen against the blue sky, as lovely as Turner could make them,' and that is saying much.
Probably in this year he began the glorious illustrations to Dr. Whitaker's History of Richmondshire, which contains some of his finest water-colours. The first plate was published in 1819, the last in 1822. Turner was paid twenty-five guineas a drawing, and the magnificent enterprise cost the publishers, Messrs Longman, ten thousand pounds. 'The Crook of the Lune' is one of the finest of the series. 'You can find at least twenty different walks in it—yet all this wealth of exquisite detail is perfectly subordinated to the unity and harmony of the composition as a whole.' Another of the Richmondshire drawings is the 'Hornby Castle' in the Victoria and Albert Museum, which, through constant exposure to light, is a wreck of its former beauty.
His chief Royal Academy picture of 1817 was 'The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire.' It has disappeared from the National Gallery, loaned, I suppose, to some provincial museum, where a Turner, even a bad Turner, is a Turner. I will quote from the catalogue of 1817 its full title, and tag of verse by Turner, and say no more about 'The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire.'
'EXHIBITION XLIX 1817
'J. M. W. Turner, R.A. Professor of Perspective, Sandycombe Lodge, Twickenham, and Queen Anne Street West.
'The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire. Rome, being determined on the overthrow of her hated rival, demanded from her such terms as might either force her into war, or ruin her by compliance; the enervated Carthaginians, in their anxiety for peace, consented to give up even their arms and their children.
"At Hope's delusive smile,
The Chieftain's safety and the mother's pride,
Were to the insidious conqueror's grasp resign'd;
While o'er the western wave th' ensanguined sun,
In gathering haze, a stormy signal spread,
And set portentous."'
Behold a mystery! The eyes that saw and the hand that produced the simple splendour of 'Richmond Castle,' and the spacious beauty of 'The Crook of the Lune' could also see in fancy and produce in reality 'The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire.'
[CHAPTER XXV]
1818: AGED FORTY-THREE