Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 1851) is without contest England’s greatest painter as his contemporaries were quick to admit, even when they could not understand his increasingly abstract art. Yet, despite achieving fame young, the man himself was so intensely private as to be almost unknown. Both brusque and kindly, tight-fisted and generous, taciturn and witty company, he remained a fascinating enigma and source of many legends. Soon after Turner’s death the journalist, critic and novelist Walter Thornbury began collecting anecdotes from friends and colleagues. The resulting biography provides most of what we know about Turner. It is unfailingly energetic and entertaining but also ill-organised and prolix. In this edition, the scholar Ian Warrell has arranged Thornbury’s most illuminating passages into a compact, coherent narrative of the painter’s life. Unfailingly vivid and thought-provoking, and with nearly 100 pages of colour illustrations, this is the first stop on any exploration of Turner’s life and career.
