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nature, though he owes some obligations to John R. Cozens, who was one of his fellow- students at Dr. Monro's. His sketches, and indeed many of his early exhibited pic- tures, were in water-colours, very rarelv in oil, and were all views. Some of these studies are, however, merely pencil outlines, faithful, firm, and well drawn, full of truth and detail of every kind, while those in water-colour, including every sort of sub- ject, are varied in like manner from mere washes of tint, truly beautiful and effective, to bits of foreground, and objects more mi- nutely rendered, but all sparkling in the freshness of nature. Of sucn studies, which are innumerable, many are now displayed on the National Gallery walls at South Kensington. By them the true genius of the painter was nourished, and in 1793 he exhibited in oil, 'The Rising Squall,' in which the poetry of nature was attempted. In 1796. among other works, a subject picture, 'Fishermen at Sea,' and the next year ' Moonlight/ followed by paintings in which all the changing phases of nature were attempted.
These works gained him admission to the Royal # Academy. He was elected an associate in 1799, and then eschewing altogether the topographical imitation of landscape for a more noble art, he looked beyond the mere details to a larger treat- ment of nature, seizing all the poetry of sunshine, and the mists of mora and eve, with the grandeur of storm and the glow of sunset. Yet he does not appear to have at once established a new art for himself. In some of his earlier works the influence of the great masters of the Dutch school is apparent, as in his noble picture of ' The Shipwreck/ 1805 ? now in the National Gal- lery ; then Poussin attracted him, and later Claude, with whom he especially desired to be placed in rivalry, bequeathing two of his finest works to the National Gallery on the condition that they should be hung between two of the most esteemed works of that master. In 1802 he was elected a member of the Academy, and about that time visited Scotland, and afterwards France, Switzerland, Italy, and the Rhine. In the succeeding years he produced some of his finest pictures, enlarging his range of sub- jects— -his ' Jason/ ' The Tenth Plague of Egypt/ 'The Blacksmith's Shop/ 'The Unpaid Bill.' In 1807 he was appointed the professor of perspective. From this time his works included some of his most expressive marine subjects — 'The Wreck of the Minotaur/ ' The Shipwreck/ ' The Gale/ and some others. His ' Apollo and Python' followed in 1811; 'Dido and jEneus/ 1814; 'Crossing the Brook/ 1815; 'The Decline of Carthage/ 1817:
- Richmond Hill/ 1819.
About 1820 a great change was manifest
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in his method of painting. In his first manner dark predominated with a very limited portion of light, and he painted solidly throughout with a vigorous and full brush ; now he adopted a pnnciple of light with a small proportion of dark, used a light ground, and by scumbling obtained infinitely delicate gradations, using the purest orange, blue, purple, and other powerful colours, and in this manner he produced his ' Bay of Baiae/ and in 1829, one of his most beautiful and poetic works, ' Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus/ in which, while in no way gaudy, it seems impossible to surpass the power of colour which he has attained, or the terrible beauty in which he has clothed Ms poetic conception, a work almost without a parallel in art.
Such was his art in oil, but he was no less eminent in water-colours. He soon foimd the heaviness which resulted from laving in the gradations of light and dark with grey, and afterwards representing the hue of each object by tinting it with colour, and proceeded to treat the whole surface of his picture as colour, using at once the pig- ments by which it might be represented, and by delicate hatchings achieving wonderful qualities of broken hues, air tints, and atmosphere. Thus he mastered the whole mystery of the art, and while others ex- celled in one particular phase of nature, for which they were distinguished, his art compassed all they did collectively, and more than equalled each in what he most excelled.
Turner's art was appreciated in his early career, and he amassed a large property, of which a considerable portion arose from the engravings from his works, for which he was able to make close bargains with the publishers, and* to retain an interest. He commenced in 1808 his ' Liber Studio- rum/ a work of the highest artistic merit, of great and now of rare value. This led to his employment as an illustrator of books, and his ' Southern Coast Scenery/ ' England and Wales/ * Rivers of France/ and 'Rogers' Italy/ are great examples of his genius and taste. Several of his finest pictures have also been produced by our best engravers in line pr mezzo-tint.
A genius of the highest class, endowed with great refinement in art, he had none of the personal characteristics which we associate with such gifts. Clumsy in figure, common in manner, slovenly in dress, he led a retired life without companionship even in art. Taciturn and reserved, he was no less a jovial associate at the occasional meetings of his professional brethren, and full of jokes which it was difficult to com-
Srehend. Full also of art knowledge, which e was ready to communicate, but which his manner made a riddle to understand, but well worth the thought to construe. At the
1 JuwturJtafft*^ ^^r^/^ 4; ^JK
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