About

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) evolved over his 60-year career from a provider of detailed topographical and architectural drawings to an artful interpreter of the ineffable forces of nature. Turner was a lifelong seeker of picturesque and sublime places, and his annual sketching tours took him across Great Britain and Continental Europe. Some of his colleagues sought novel sketching grounds far across the British Empire and beyond. Together, these artists elevated the lowly “stained drawings” of the eighteenth century into the independent art of watercolor painting, England’s …