JMW Turner (1775-1851)
Sunset over Petworth Park, Sussex, c.1828
Photo © National Gallery of Ireland
The annual exhibition of works by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) displayed for the month of January at the National Gallery of Ireland gets underway today. For over a century the Gallery has followed the stipulations set out by the art collector Henry Vaughan in a bequest; that 31 watercolours covering the entire career of one of the great masters of British painting were to be exhibited to the public all at one time, free of charge, during the month of January. This is the month when daylight is low and at its least damaging level.
Inspired by the writings of John Ruskin the collector Henry Vaughan (1809-1899) decided to gift his collection of Turner watercolours to the National Galleries of Ireland, England and Scotland. This year, alongside the much loved Vaughan bequest, the National Gallery of Ireland will display a selection of Turner’s Liber Studiorum prints. Turner embarked on his most important publishing venture the Liber Studiorum – or drawing book – in 1807. The series of over 70 prints was conceived as a visual treatise on landscape and art and made his work accessible to a wide audience. The show runs to January 31.