Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Royal Academy Years
Trained in the Reynolds school of grandiose epics, Turner painted the obligatory big
canvases of great moments in history—
The Destruction of Sodom, Hannibal and His Army
Crossing the Alps, The Lost ATM Card, Jason and the Argonauts,
and various shipwrecks.
Not content to crank them out in the traditional staid manner, he sets them in expansive
landscapes. Nature's stormy mood mirrors the human events, but is so grandiose it dwarfs
them.
This is a theme we'll see throughout his works: The forces of nature—the burning
sun, swirling clouds, churning waves, gathering storms, and the weathering of
time—overwhelm men and wear down the civilizations they build.
Travels with Turner
Turner's true love was nature—he was a born hobo. Oblivious to the wealth and fame that
his early paintings gave him, he set out traveling—mostly on foot—throughout England
and the Continent, with a rucksack full of sketch pads and painting gear. He sketched the
English countryside—not green, leafy, and placid as so many others had done, but churn-
ing in motion, hazed over by a burning sunset.
He found the “sublime” not in the studio or in church, but in the overwhelming power
of nature. The landscapes throb with life and motion. He sets Constable's clouds on fire.
Italy's Landscape and Ruins
With a Rick Steves guidebook in hand, Turner visited the great museums of Italy, drawing
inspiration from the Renaissance masters. He painted the classical monuments and Renais-
sance architecture. He copied masterpieces, admired the works of the French classicist
Claude Lorrain, and fused a great variety of styles—a true pan-European vision. Turner's
Roman ruins are not grand; they're dwarfed by the landscape around them and eroded by
swirling, misty, luminous clouds.
Stand close to a big canvas of Roman ruins, close enough so that it fills your whole
field of vision. Notice how the buildings seem to wrap around you. Turner was a master
of using multiple perspectives to draw the viewer in. On the one hand, you're right in the
thick of things, looking “up” at the tall buildings. Then again, you're looking “down” on
the distant horizon, as though standing on a mountaintop.
Venice
I know what color the palazzo is. But what color is it at sunset? Or through the filter of
the watery haze that hangs over Venice? Can I paint the glowing haze itself? Maybe if I
combine two different colors and smudge the paint on....
