The Express.
London, England, 1851-12-23 00:00:00

DEATH OF MR. TURNER, TILE PAINTER.

Joseph William Mullord Turner was, it is said,
born at 26, Maiden-lane, Covent-garden, au address
which turns up in old Academical catalogues, and
was there allied with his name for the first time as far
back as 1790. Ilia father is said to have belonged to
the Company of Barbers. Whether young Turner had an
early aversion to wigs and cos sinks, and soon showed a
preference for brushes and pigment',—whether he lied from
the rasor-strop and the curling-iron to the palette ail the
pencil,—are facts which will doubtless be made known by
future chroniclers. Meanwhile, the only slender thread
left to guide us through the painter's early career
age the above-mentioned catalogues. They are curious
*dared re-cords to refer to, these said cataleguee, showing
as they do the young and inexperienced Turner battling
with the well-established men of reputation of that period,
"law names, by-the-bye, have for the most part long
lee faded into oblivion. Before he had launched into
ideal were presumably finished oil pictures, he had broken
a Lao: with the venerable Girtin, the true founder of the
water-colour schools. That the young rival soon overcame
lie 'taster we have ample proof in the drawings of that
period, which, however, are rather preserved by amateur
wllleetors as historical curiosities, than for any other iutrin-1
Me charm or value. Excessively limited in the scale of
their harmony, they are the feeblest imaginable mono-
eiremes, and are in strange contrast with the prismatic vaga-
eiesthe painter indulged in half • century later. But to pro-
Ned in the most approved chronological order, we may briefly
and broadly state the three periods in which the works of
Tamer seem destined to be classified hereafter. From his
hest or Girtin manner he does not seem to base entirely
aniencipated himself till this century had well dawned spew
him, confining himself to river and sailed seenneT. le wee
'sly on feeling conscious of awakening pewee dun he
Ms admirable series of sea subjects and Alpine suldirrilt:
is which he ever after remained, unrivalled. lie thus filled
the large void in art which was so severely felt between the
death of Reynolds and the advent of Wilkie ; while the
first had depicted the noblest of the land, while Wilkie was
es seek inspiration amid the humblest, Turner courted the
neglected graces of nature itself. In 1793, the year
after Sir Joshua's death, if we mistake not,Turner exhibited
three pictures, one of which, representing "The Pantheon
the morning after the fire,' thus early evincing heepartiality
for depicting lanment effects and inflammatory vagaries,
with no end of gamboge and cinnabar. In 1800, lie was
elected associate, the first step in academical honours; he
moved then to 64, Barley-street, within a street's distance
of his latest dwelling. Strange, though frequent, is this
rooted affection to one spot and quarter, however erratic
may be the habits of the painter. A lapse of two years suf-
ficed to him for appending the envied letters ILA. to his
name. The "Tenth Plague of Egypt" and the " Fall of
the Clyde" were amongst his subjects this year. The year
1812 is one of the ruost memorable of the artist's life, marked
as it is by the publication of his " Liber Studiorum." It
consists of a series of sepia-coloured etchings, executed
from sketches gleaned and made on the English coast and
Alpine passes, from " Winchelseu" to " St. Uothard."
Collectors will now, more than ever, be eager
in their researches after stray fragments of this work
which, even piecemeal, is scarce. About this period he was
appointed professor of perspective, which accounts for Wil-
kie's exclamation, at liolyrood, if memory serves truly,
where Collins was also at tile same time. Wilkie, writing
to • friend, vociferates, " Who do you think turned up
here of all men ? Turner, 11. A., P.P.!" The quiet land-
scapist was in truth probably less at home here, during the
kingly progress, than the court-loving Wilkie in his sky-
blue coat, which ho was fond of bragging about, much
like Goldsmith, strutting in the finery furnished by Filby.
On these etchings of the " Liber Studiorum " it scents to us
mainly rest Turner's claims to be called an honest, sincere,
and painstaking draughtsman ; evidently captivated by the
charm of the etching point, and its utility in seising certain
fleeting effects of nature, the artist at starting from a mere
copyist of Claude's classical compositions, soon by his
Remus rose nearly to the level of Rembrandt. The out-
lining is executed with to the full aa much purpose
as the reed-pen drawings of Samuel Prone Looking at the
whole collection of his subsequent works, we should have
precisely the contrary impression. They are, whether in
oil or water-colour, exquisite evasions of form and contour.
Those who have seen the fine collection of Turner's draw-
ings, belonging to Mr. Windus of Tottenham, will have
possibly felt this. So much is this the case, that the intelli-
gent engraver, like all sound translators of dead languages,
has frequently substituted a meaning where a vague mist
was purposely intended by the original painter. The Pet-
worth collection of pictures, executed by Turner with •
jealous seeresy, lest any one should find him at work, is
only paralleled by Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel.
A pleasant anecdote is told of Chantrey's stratagem, which
Turner was the first to laugh at when it succeeded. Turner
was Indeed very jealous of allowing any one to obtain an ink-
ling of his mod us operandi. On varnishing days, for instanee,
be would square hie elbows before his panel, whilst giving •
farewell to one of his fairy scenes. Like all the great
masters, he has carried away with him not merely his
genius, but the practised skill which was long trained to be
subservient to his will. When glancing at the peculiarities
Of the painter's style the micd naturally reverts to the co-
pious notices furnished to us by his eloquent panegyrist,
Mr. Ruskin. That the topic is not as yet exhausted seems
evident front the fact, if rumour be credited, that Mr.
Ruskin has hitherto withheld the publication of his final
volume of " Modem Painters," in deference to the feelings
of a veteran in the art, whose blemishes could only be duly
harmed with his beauties when the artist no longer sue
vived to forbid impartial judgment. We may, therefore,
soon expect the forthcoming volume, which it seems
will copiously illustrate by designs the ambiguous utter-
ance of the writer, who is at present in Venece, giving
finishing strokes to the plates of the " Stones of Venice."
For the introductory notice of the " Seven Lampe," the
same writer indicates Turner's own " golden rule for oh-
seising resplendence of colour "—" Know what you have
to do, and do it," is the concise and compreneesive law to
be accepted by colourists in general. Without entering
Into considerations involved in this phrase, we can only
express our entire acquiescence in the general truths of the
principle. But in so doing, its inappiscability to Turner
seems too self-evident to be passed by unnoticed. True it
is that much of the delight occasioned by either a Buys bud
oe a Cuyp arises from the uuerring rapidity and precision
with which every touch tells. These Dutchmen's whole
concern evidently lay in producing the most satisfactory
result at the smallest cost of labour or time. With Turner,
precisely the reverse is the case; his style, though
affectedly careless, is always the result of intense and
anxious elaboration. If his pictnrcs are perfect, it is be-
cause they have been frequently and arduously polished.
like the verses of a fastidious poet. Where Mr. Ruskin
discovers " gigantic memory " and " immoral impressions,"
others only find keen and attentive observations, allied to
as exuberant fancy.
Is 1823 Turner undertook the series of England and
Wales. Between 1830 and 1840 Mr. Ruskin marks as the
time during which the powers of the artist were paralysed.