, 1873-02-16
THE WORKS OF TURNER.
A Great Request TO England from
mar Hnaf K1sol{f5u Ax4axH

A Great Hcluest TO England FROM
Her Most Prolific Axtsnt.
| From the Cincinnati Commercial.
| Not far from the realdence Of Carlyle there
| is house which has on it peculiar top~ona
With balcony surrounded by An iron railing
1t NAE there that the great artist Turner lived
/ under ono Of his two names, and on that balus-
traded housetop, prepared there By his own
order, he used to stand for many, many houtB,
while the throng toiled on beneath, OF wh,ia
they slept. His other house was in Queen Anne
Hyde Park; but in this latter abode he p1ssed
his time only when he would appear to the world
IS Mr.. Turner.
When ho died, as is known, he left the great
mass Of his works as q bequest to the nation.
Among the works left, there vas ono collection
not registered in the be9uest, which, when
opened by lIr. Ruskin and Mr.. Ralph Wornum,
Secretary tc the National Museum, wore found
to contain sketches from nature Of q kind 80 un-
available for popular inspection that they threw
them into the fire, thing for which they have
been severely censured, and, by some artists,
never forgiven No one, believe, except Rus
kin and Wornum ever saw the pictures which
they decidad should be forever invisible. But
the number Of pictures and sketches which Tur-
ner left to the nation almost beggars bollef.
The visitor to the National Gallery will find
three Of the largest rooms chiefly devoted to
them, and more than two 1t the South Kensing-
ton Museum. But besides these there are threa
Turner galleries floating about the country ut
this moment-one in Dublin, another in Man.
chester, third in Edinburgh-vhere they NAV
be seen by the poopls, and studied or copied BY
artists. But lately. Wishing to investigate those
Turner treasures which arc not hung, obtained
tie necessary orders and was taken into the
crypt OF the National Gallery and there placed at
table. / was then asked which OF Turner'S
pictures and sketches desired to see. inno-
Gently replied: "Al." The very gentlemanly
Curator then asked me how many days Ihad to
devote to them. Days? He then pointed me to
mahogany presses completely surrounding tho
room, and said: ''All these are filed with tho
works Of Turner" The next day Mr. Wornum
informed me- that the nation owned in all about
nineteen thousand works by Turner!
When it ia considered that there nre works by
the Same artist Of certain ge1luineuess held in
private hands to the number Of several Thousand,
one may conclude that Turner has loft valuable
work for every day of bis 76 yaars OF life.
The son of q poor hairdresser Of Maiden lane,
who Stunned society, SO that the only real ike
ness Of him was made BY stealth with bit OF
cut paper, who died under social ban (ministered
to By woman he loved, but to whom he was
never married J, and All assumed name in 4 poor
lodging, may be aaid to heve beon the most pro-
life genius the world ever produced.
Turner was buried By tho side Of Sir Joshua
Reynolds in the crypt nf st. Pau1's. His large
queathed to his Countrywide finished pictures
to the nation-on condition that the Government
should provide them suitable accommodation in
10 years, and the funded property toward the
establishment OF an institution for docayedartists.
The will Was disputed, but BY compromise the
Court Of Chancory ordered 1856 that all pic i.
tures Irawings, sketches, finished or unfinished
by the hand Of Turner ehould belong 20 tho
nation, and the engraviuEs to the next kim
The finished pictures thus acquired by Tue conn-
drcds of which are almost dnlshed-a7e vast in
nuu,ber.. es have stated.
The mass OF sengrayings" alludedso in tho
decision, hequeathod to the next Of kin wera
~. .nf..v ~F nd pfa ar3
Law in the house in Queen Anne street. There
we're also there largo number Of plates. Al
most ever since Turner left it, the house has
been tenant1ess, and almost rotting away: Lnte-
ly IN old man died who seemed to be the only
representative Of the property; "heFoupon come
one who had the right to do so entered and
found the stacks of plates and engrarings in
pools Of water. which had fallen through tho
[eaky roof On examination the great maas OF
The works were found to be- uninjured- They
Turner, one OF whom has been sent for ~ far
as Alabama to attend to his rights. It muEt be-
that Turner'S "engrayings" are
not Of the ordinary kind He drew sketches for
On the plates, 30 TINT they are among his most
Faluablo works. They will al be sold at Christie
/ Manson's in March, and the sensation will
probably be equal to that which accompanied
70 GOD to be sold These include from four
hundred to Elk hundred of the larger eng1avingss
,uch as Caligu1a's aB5idge," "Dido and Eneas,"
!. Mercury a9d Argus" Il Mercury and Horae,~'.
4 Crossing the Brook" some five hundred sets
IT the English and Wales scenery series, and
arge numbers Of the smaller Illustrations Of the
vorks of Byron, Scott, Milton, oanpben and
2oge1s. There are about seven hundred speci-
nens from the celebrated ''Liber studiornm,
shich Turner began, following 3 project OF
Claude, but never completed And there axe
bout eighty pictures meant for the Liber 6tudi-
rum which have never been published
The prices that some Of these pictures VII
ring will probably be very great, and indeed
he values OF Turner'S pictures will probably
ontinue to increase for many ye.rs to come: 50
.reat il the hunger, not only OF the Engliah,
ut Of continental collectors and galieriea, for
NJ that are not locked up in the poaaession Of
be nation I am glad to say the sketches be-
onging to the nation will not be perpetually
2cEcd up from sight; u vast addition to tha
uilding Of the National Gallery is being erected
! good part to exhibit them. n. D. @.
TO MAUD IN HEAVEN.