Turner and Bonington Study Morning

Useful online study morning from the Wallace Collection to compliment their exhibition of watercolours by Turner and Bonington.

Taking the exhibition as a starting point the morning consisted of five talks beginning with a description of the show by its curator Lucy Davis who discussed the pictures and how they entered the collection.

John Bonehill from the University of Glasgow then talked about Turner and landed estates and the concept of estate portraits which I hadn’t consciously come across before. He talked about how Turner started doing these as a money spinner but developed the style into a higher form.

Next was Timothy Barringer from Yale University looking at how both artists reflected the modern world and how pictures which look romantic to us also critique the changing world in which they were painted.

There was a useful talk by Joyce H Townsend from the Tate taking us thought the technique of watercolour and developments in the early 19th century including the invention of the new colour of Emerald green.

Finally Christine Rider from the National Gallery looked at the marine works in the Royal Academy show of 1827 and how they proved to be a watershed moment in the development of the genre.

All in all an enjoyable and informative morning.

 

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