The Water-Colours of J. M. W. TurnerFinberg, A. J. (Alexander Joseph)
General
The Water-Colours of J. M. W. Turner
Finberg, A. J. (Alexander Joseph)
Turner, J. M. W. (Joseph Mallord William), 1775-1851; Watercolor painting, British
adequately in the terms of some other art, but which he chose on this
occasion to express in pictorial terms.
In this way we can understand why Turner did, as a matter of fact,
frequently and constantly attempt to express his ideas in the form of
verbal poetry, and why, in the drawing we are now considering, he felt
himself justified not only in filling out his sketch with details that
were neither there nor in the real scene, but also in taking
considerable liberties with the facts contained in the sketch, altering
them and falsifying them in ways that could not be defended if his aim
had been to reproduce the actual scene itself. The colouring too of Mr.
Walter’s drawing owes much more to Turner’s study of Wilson’s pictures
than to his visual memory of natural scenes; that is to say, the colour
is used as an instrument of expression,--as a means to bring the
imagination and feelings of the spectator into harmony with the artist’s
ideas, as well as to indicate in the clearest possible manner that it
was not the artist’s intention to represent the actual scene in its
prosaic details.
This picture, with the others exhibited in 1798, settled the question
for Turner’s brother artists and for himself that he was a genuinely
imaginative artist and not a merely clever topographical draughtsman.
The following year he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy, at
the early age of twenty-four, and throughout his long life he always
regarded himself as entitled to take any liberties with actual
topographical facts that the expression of his ideas demanded.
The success of the first _Norham Castle_ drawing induced Turner to
repeat the subject several times. The late Mrs. Thwaites had another
water-colour of it in her collection, there are at least three
unfinished versions in the National Gallery, and I have seen a version
of it in oil. The subject was engraved in the “Liber” from what
purported to be the picture in the possession of the Hon. Mr. Lascelles,
but really from a fresh design made by the artist. Then Turner painted
the subject again for Mr. Fawkes of Farnley, and again, about 1822 or
1823, he made the drawing for the “Rivers of England” series, here
reproduced. What is so interesting in all this is that the details in
each of these versions are different, yet they all seem to have been
based on the same pencil sketch. The relative size of the castle varies
in each drawing, as well as the details of its embrasures and crumbling
masonry; the character of the river banks also varies. In the earlier
versions the right bank is steep and rocky, as suiting the solemn and
gloomy effect of the subject; in the latest version, where the humble
pastoral life of the present is thrown more into prominence, this bank
becomes flat and peopled with fishermen, their boats and cows.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account