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00:00The famous British painter, Joseph Mallord William Turner, used to tell a story that's
00:25now become something of a legend. He set sail from the port of Harwich on a boat called
00:34the Aerial, just when a storm was brewing. And then he asked the sailors to lash him
00:44to the mast, so that he could be soaked by the sea and whipped by the wind and rain.
00:50Now why would anyone, let alone Britain's most famous artist, and a man in his 60s too,
00:57subject himself to this? This was the picture that Turner painted. He wanted to transfer
01:02the overwhelming force of the sea and the storm straight onto the canvas. He was a man
01:08of extraordinary vision, light years ahead of his time, who pursued a quest to capture
01:14the immense power of nature in his art. And in that quest, no measure was too extreme
01:20and no experience too raw. Turner's vision has come to dominate our own. We see a stormy
01:28sky and call it Turner-esque. And as a beautiful day draws to an end, we talk of Turner sunsets.
01:36Like the weather that he loved to paint, Turner has become a great British institution. But
01:41while his paintings have become priceless national treasures, the story of the man behind
01:46them has been largely forgotten.
01:57Turner was a Londoner, born in 1775. His story begins here, in Covent Garden, then a rough
02:04and ready part of town. He was the son of a barber. His father's shop was always busy
02:16with travelling salesmen, city gents and colourful characters from the nearby theatres.
02:37And in the middle of it all, his father.
02:39William, you took your time with them windows. What have you been up to?
02:44Just looking.
02:46And do you always know what you see, William?
02:59He might not always know what he sees, but he can picture it. My son, sir, is going to be a painter.
03:09This is the exact site where the barber shop was, and also the place where Turner was born.
03:20But when he was still young, the family moved, across the way here, to number 26.
03:25Now, the whole area was strewn with rubbish and infested with rats, but it was also pulsating
03:31with life. There were theatres and taverns, there were brothels, there was also the massive
03:36fruit and veg market a few streets through. Everyone had something to buy and sell.
03:41And perhaps Turner realised that painting could become his ticket to another world.
03:46You see, we sold one, William.
03:49That was a three shilling on. That means you owe me one and six, Dad, and an eightney for a cake.
03:57Take care of the eightneys. Always take care of the eightneys.
04:00You've got a father and a son tight as a spinster's arse.
04:04But, William, don't make haste to marry. You might end up with a shiner, like your pa.
04:12Yeah. Ma walked in like this.
04:15Listen to me!
04:24You go and sort out your gallery, William. I'll be finished soon.
04:28Then we can do some education. Words. Words.
04:36I love my dad. He taught me the pride of hard work and thrift.
04:42He showed me love better than any woman I ever knew.
04:45I was his dream, and perhaps he was mine.
04:49It was all a very big dream we both had.
04:53Vision, William. Vision.
04:58Father and son were a strong team, one that grew stronger and closer with each passing year.
05:05And by selling those early efforts to his customers in the shop,
05:09he set the young Turner on the road.
05:15The boy would travel out of London to stay with relatives.
05:18When he was ten, he came here, to Brentford.
05:26And tucked away in the local library is a fascinating glimpse of what he got up to on that visit.
05:32The story goes that John Leese, who was a friend of the family that Turner was staying with in Brentford,
05:39thought that he might be artistically talented,
05:42and therefore, by suggesting that he coloured the plates in in this book,
05:46it might encourage his talent.
05:48I think that's a slightly unsuitable one, actually, for a young lad.
05:51Wonderful architectural detail there.
05:53Oh, yes. A bit of everything in that one.
05:55And then, after that, we get into the pictures.
05:58Which the rest of the book is full of.
06:00Castles, abbeys, ruins.
06:02Does Turner get paid, though?
06:04I have a theory that Turner's always a bit of a businessman.
06:07Yes, Turner is said to have been paid tuppence a plate for colouring them in.
06:11I know that we shouldn't judge a ten- or eleven-year-old too harshly,
06:16but just occasionally, he makes a smudge or two, doesn't he?
06:20Yes, there are one or two places where he's been a bit too quick, perhaps,
06:24and gone over the edge.
06:26Colouring in the pictures doubtless wild away the hours,
06:29and they seem to have made an impression on the young Turner.
06:32In a few years, he would visit and paint many of these places for himself.
06:40Away from the dark grime of London, this must have seemed like heaven.
06:44But there was a tragic reason for the trip.
06:47Like hundreds of children, Turner's little girl,
06:50she was born to a poor family.
06:52There was a tragic reason for the trip.
06:54Like hundreds of children, Turner's little sister, Mary Ann,
06:57paid the price of living amidst the stinking hubbub of the city.
07:01Just a few days before her fifth birthday, she died.
07:05Back home, things got worse.
07:08Turner's mother had always been temperamental,
07:11but losing her daughter was perhaps the final straw.
07:15SHE LAUGHS
07:17Listen to me!
07:19Listen to me! Listen!
07:21I love you. I love you. I love you.
07:23Listen to me! I hear you, Mary!
07:25I will be heard! I will!
07:27I will be heard!
07:29I'm all right.
07:31I'm all right.
07:37My mother had an unquenchable storm inside her.
07:40I suppose it became mine too.
07:43Chaos, trouble, convulsions, they always come.
07:47It's nature.
07:49All her moods are extreme.
07:58As his mother's health deteriorated,
08:01Turner spent more and more time with relatives.
08:04His next escape was to Margate, on the Kent coast.
08:11He occupied his time sketching and painting
08:14and produced a series of watercolours.
08:16Remember that Turner was away from his parents and their unhappy home,
08:20on his own, and producing confident and accomplished work,
08:23untutored and still only ten years old.
08:36By the time Turner was in his teens,
08:38it seemed he'd begun a personal quest
08:40to grasp every detail of the visual world around him.
08:44Later, he recalled how he'd lie on his back for hours,
08:47staring at the clouds,
08:49training his eye, fine-tuning his vision.
08:55And then he'd paint studies of the sky
08:57and sell them to other artists, ever the entrepreneur.
09:07And once again, his father's barber's shop played a helping hand.
09:11Amongst the customers were architects,
09:13who not only employed him, giving invaluable drawing experience,
09:17but also encouraged him to get a formal artist's training.
09:28Just a stone's throw from the barber's is Somerset House.
09:31Today, it offers a variety of attractions.
09:34You can come to study, to look at paintings,
09:37or in winter, to skate.
09:39For Turner, though, it was important for just one reason.
09:44This building was THE place to be for a young artist
09:47in the late 18th century,
09:49because it housed the Royal Academy of Arts.
09:51And if painting was your chosen profession,
09:53the Royal Academy schools were the best place to learn.
09:56And if you became elected as a full member of the Academy,
09:59doors were opened onto a world of influential patrons
10:02and wealthy collectors.
10:04And for Turner, the Academy would become his home from home,
10:08his exhibition space and showroom,
10:10his passport to patronage,
10:12and his own private club.
10:18In 1789, Turner was admitted into the Royal Academy School
10:22at the age of 14.
10:25He began to learn his craft, drawing from sculpture and from life,
10:29as well as copying the work of his elders and the old masters.
10:34Even then, he was driven.
10:36In a few prolific years, he made a massive leap
10:39from studies like this, his first work to be shown at the Academy,
10:43to this refined, subtle and acutely observed image
10:47of Tintern Abbey in Monmouthshire.
10:54Being a skilled watercolourist was one thing,
10:57but major recognition came from an artist's ability
11:00to handle oil paint.
11:02It was a medium that Turner was determined to master,
11:05and this, his first known attempt, was astounding.
11:27This is a spectacular picture for someone who's just 21.
11:31The result of a summertime tour here to the Isle of Wight
11:34where Turner filled up his sketchbooks and fired up his imagination.
11:38Now, most of the books I've read on Turner
11:40claim that the scene depicted
11:42is of the island's most celebrated landmark, the Needles.
11:46Whenever Turner went on a trip, he'd cover plenty of ground,
11:49and this one was no exception.
11:51Looking through the sketchbook,
11:53it seems that he must have walked around the whole island.
11:58But there's something missing.
12:00There's page after page of seascape and coastline,
12:03and some inland views as well.
12:05But no hint of that famous landmark, the Needles.
12:24Having toured the island,
12:26I'm convinced that it's not the Needles in Turner's picture.
12:29I think this is the place, Freshwater Bay.
12:32Look at the headlands and the rocks,
12:34and we know since Turner's time,
12:36two of them have crashed into the sea,
12:38and also this was and still is
12:40a place where fishermen launch their boats out to sea.
12:43But what makes this painting so amazing
12:45is the drama that Turner brings to it,
12:47and it creates a sense of theatre
12:49by setting the whole scene at night-time.
12:51Now, when you look at the picture,
12:53the first thing you notice is light,
12:55and there are two sources.
12:57The full moon in the sky
12:59and then the warm glow of the fishermen's lamp.
13:02But look a little longer and a little deeper,
13:04and you realise that the strongest sensation that Turner conveys
13:07is the brooding but terrifying power of the sea,
13:10which threatens to rear up
13:12and obliterate the fishermen and their boats at any second.
13:15I love this picture. It's always been one of my favourite Turners.
13:18But there is a flaw.
13:20Look at the moon and then look at the clouds.
13:22What are they doing going behind the moon?
13:24Perhaps we can forgive a young artist that tiny error.
13:27Fisherman at Sea was shown at the Royal Academy in 1796.
13:31It sold for £10, just over £500 today.
13:35But soon his prices will be much higher
13:38through a combination of originality, hard work and travel.
13:42By now, Turner was both artist and business traveller.
13:45This is a page from one of his sketchbooks
13:47listing the clothes he'd take with him on a tour.
13:50Right, first up, three coats.
13:55That's the ones.
13:56Four waistcoats, white.
14:00And six shirts.
14:05Six pairs of cotton stockings.
14:07Two pairs of silk stockings.
14:09Eight cravats.
14:11And three pocket handkerchiefs.
14:13Five pairs of breeches.
14:15Four under waistcoats.
14:18And finally, three pairs of boots.
14:20Oh, and don't forget the hat.
14:26Turner's tours weren't just about sketching.
14:28They were also about networking,
14:30keeping up with old clients and making new contacts.
14:33When he was 23, he came here, to North Wales.
14:37You know what this is like?
14:39It's like a hot bath!
14:42This is what the North Wales heat was like at the time.
14:46It was about how warm and what you could do,
14:49how warm and cold you could stay.
14:51This was a hot bath.
14:53You could get warm and cold and warm and then cold.
14:57That's the hot bath.
14:59So it was like a hot bath and then warm and cold and warm and cold.
15:03Turner took every opportunity to escape the grime of London and through his frequent tours
15:17he documented Britain.
15:21Turner was a vigorous traveller, plunging himself head first into the elements was physically
15:25hard work and he thought nothing of walking up to 25 miles a day.
15:32By travelling and drawing and sketching, Turner became a prototype tourist who helped
15:37to build up a picture of Britain and who helped forge a national identity.
15:59Turner rarely if ever painted when he was on the road, he thought it was too time-consuming.
16:04Instead he sketched rapidly and then completed in oil or watercolour back in his studio in
16:09London.
16:11The 1798 tour was a typically packed itinerary, he explored the Wye and Taft valleys before
16:20going to Cardiff, then he headed north along the coast with numerous stop-offs before arriving
16:27Snowdonia.
16:28If we compare Turner's travel with that of his contemporary John Constable who was born
16:38the year after Turner, it's extraordinary.
16:40Constable was born in Suffolk, moved to London but travelled no further afield than Brighton
16:46and Salisbury.
16:47Turner though mapped the length and breadth of the country and beyond.
16:51So it started in 1792 with South Wales, then 1795 Isle of Wight, 1797 the North of England,
17:001798 North Wales, 1801 Scotland, 1802 Europe for the first time, 1811...
17:17Turner made nearly 60 tours across Britain and the continent through his lifetime.
17:22Another stop on that 1798 tour was here in Caernarvon where he made studies of the castle.
17:29His approach to painting became more radical, Turner was breaking down the barriers between
17:34oil and watercolour, strongly evident in paintings like Caernarvon Castle.
17:47So by 1799 when Turner exhibits this wonderful watercolour of Caernarvon Castle, he'd achieved
17:53the ability to attain an incredible richness and depth of tone which is why the Caernarvon
17:58Castle looks very much like an oil painting.
18:01What do we mean by tone here?
18:04Well tone is the range of colour from light to dark.
18:08Turner's ability to control tones was really quite amazing.
18:14For example, in this superb early watercolour of Tom Tower we can see a vast range of different
18:21tones, a different tone for each slab of masonry.
18:24Now this presented Turner with a technical problem.
18:27In order to get this range of tones he could have used a palette like this in which he
18:32had maybe 50 different colours, but it would have meant that he'd have been constantly
18:36having to clean off his brush or have a vast number of brushes for each different tone
18:41to stop them from corrupting each other, to keep the tones pure.
18:45But he didn't do that.
18:46Instead, what he did was to have a palette like this in which he had a single colour,
18:51a single tone, and put it at different places in the composition.
18:57And then having done that, he would pick up his palette and move on to the next watercolour
19:01and put in the same tone that he had mixed up on his palette there and so on, all the
19:06way around a room, filled with sheets of paper.
19:09And by the time he got back to the beginning, the first sheet would have dried and he could
19:14then slightly darken his palette to add the next tone down the tonal scale from light
19:19to dark, pretty much as one puts different shapes within a jigsaw puzzle.
19:25This tonal control that Turner was learning in the 1790s would stand him in enormously
19:30good stead.
19:31By the end of his career, Turner had the ability to minutely differentiate one tone from another
19:37in a way that's never been rivaled anywhere in the history of art.
19:42The few years between the painting of Tom Tower and Carnarvon Castle marked the transition
19:46from aspiration to success.
19:49This picture fetched 40 guineas, over £2,000 today, and his oils were commanding even higher
19:55prices and acclaim.
20:02Turner was a rising star, doing nicely, and still only 23.
20:08This was when he painted his only adult self-portrait.
20:14We see someone full of confidence and perhaps with a hint of arrogance, a handsome young
20:19man.
20:20And by painting himself face on and from the chest upwards, he passed lightly over the
20:24features he didn't like about himself.
20:27His nose, his tendency towards portliness, and a noticeable lack of inches.
20:39And although the painting marks Turner's growing self-esteem, one incident in 1799 put his
20:45own work into perspective.
21:15Turner usually kept his emotions to himself, but when he saw this picture, he was reduced
21:30to tears.
21:31Now, why would an image from the Bible of the embarkation of the Queen of Sheba, painted
21:36by the French artist Claude Lorrain, have such an impact?
21:39Well, in effect, Turner sees the light.
21:43As you can see, Claude is a great painter of sunlight and its dazzling effects rippling
21:47across the water and playing on the architecture on either side.
21:51And Turner is bowled over with admiration, but he also realises that as a young artist,
21:56he's got a long way to go.
22:11His mother's mental health had steadily worsened, and in 1800, she was committed to an asylum.
22:39The tragedy drew Turner and his father even closer.
22:42They became the family firm, father joining son in new premises that Turner had taken
22:48on a year earlier.
22:54Turner moved here, to Harley Street, a fashionable, elegant part of town, where he intended not
23:00only to live, but also to open his own gallery.
23:03Now, he still continued to show his work at the Royal Academy, but there he faced stiff
23:07competition, with his paintings vying with hundreds of others on the same wall.
23:12Here, though, he could control totally the way his work was seen.
23:17There was something else new in Turner's life, love.
23:22He'd grown close to a widower called Sarah Danby.
23:28She already had four children when she met Turner.
23:35Children!
23:39Night, Sarah.
23:45Night, Ben.
23:51What a treat, being able to look through these minute sketchbooks, and what I see are a series
24:16of affectionate and intimate drawings, and I'm sure a Sarah Danby's here, and in fact
24:21things become increasingly erotic, but it's as if I've been given access to a private
24:25world that Turner didn't really want any of us to see, and that mirrors his relationship
24:29with Sarah.
24:30They had two daughters, Georgina and Evelina, and yet Turner never publicly acknowledged
24:35either the daughters or their mother.
24:42With Sarah discreetly raising their young children, and his father minding the gallery,
24:47Turner now wanted to strengthen his position at the Royal Academy.
24:50He lobbied for election as Professor of Perspective, and in 187, he took up the post.
24:57One of his new responsibilities was to give lectures.
25:02Turner's fluency with the paintbrush wasn't matched by his way with words.
25:09He was tongue-tied, the lectures were incoherent, and often poorly attended.
25:37But one who did come often was the Academy Librarian.
25:46He was stone deaf, but he told a friend, there's so much to see at Turner's lectures, much
25:51that I delight in seeing, though I can't hear him.
25:59You can see now the arrangement gives the associative feelings of force.
26:05This is eruptive expanding, in form, an expression of hope, and we must all work in hope.
26:18Eruptive expanding, and that's it.
26:23Turner persevered with the lectures for years, although he never fully mastered them.
26:28But his horizons were expanding, thanks to a key event in 1815.
26:39For most of his adult life, England had been at war with France.
26:46But when Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo,
26:49Turner was free to travel south through Europe.
26:52The optical dazzle of the southern light changed Turner and his art forever.
27:22Turner quickly became a seasoned European traveller, but he didn't even reach the most
27:45spectacular city on the continent until his third trip.
27:48But once he arrived here in Venice, Turner was captivated by the ghostly beauty of the
27:53place and its constantly changing patterns of light, and so he was inspired to make Europe's
27:58most exotic city shimmer and sparkle as never before.
28:03But it wasn't just the incandescent beauty of Venice that transfixed Turner.
28:11The city brought out his competitive spirit.
28:13Not content with being one of Britain's foremost artists,
28:17he wanted to forge an international reputation.
28:20Many great artists had painted Venice before him, but he wanted to depict the architecture,
28:25the light, the people, the water, the whole place, better and more brilliantly than anyone else.
28:32In effect, he was saying to the old masters, anything you can do, I can do better.
28:38Turner came to Venice three times in all.
28:40The results of his first visit in 1819 were a few simple, yet stunningly beautiful watercolours.
29:01For Turner, Venice was a floating city, and in no medium did Turner express this better
29:06than in watercolour, because watercolour is, of course, intrinsically a floating medium.
29:11And to that end, he'd take whole sheets of paper and put them into a bucket of water
29:16so as to totally wet the surface.
29:21He would have buckets of yellow water, which he would then put the whole sheet into, take
29:25it out and hang it up on a clothesline to dry.
29:30Blue watercolour, red watercolour.
29:33How does he use these wetted watercolour papers?
29:36Well, he'll take a sheet of paper, which might be yellow to start with.
29:47And then he'll take a sponge or a brush, add some red, brush in some blue.
29:56Am I being a bit poetic here, or is there in fact a lagoon emerging from there?
30:00Well, I think there should be a lagoon emerging from there.
30:05And there are dozens of watercolours like this in the Turner bequest, in a very, very
30:10primary state, using them as a way of sparking his imagination.
30:14And, I mean, he could also take the watercolour and put it back in the water.
30:20And look how much more subtle that looks.
30:22Absolutely, it becomes ghostly.
30:24So it's a quick medium, but it means that he could be experimental and radical and,
30:27in fact, take risks.
30:28Oh, yeah.
30:30Turner's constantly having this dialogue between the paper, the pigment and the water.
30:36The three of them are totally feeding into each other and into his imagination
30:41and into his sense of vision and pushing the work further and further down the line
30:46towards what we think of as a masterpiece.
30:54From those first watercolours through to his late oils,
30:58they haunted Turner's imagination,
31:00and it became rare for him to submit paintings for an exhibition
31:03without there being a Venetian canvas among them.
31:16In 1827, Turner was 52 and in his prime.
31:20Now he had an international reputation,
31:22Turner and his paintings were more popular than ever in England
31:25and he became something of a celebrity.
31:27Wealthy patrons welcomed him into their houses.
31:31Some of these had a tendency towards eccentricity
31:34which matched Turner's own somewhat maverick behaviour.
31:38One such patron was Lord Egremont.
31:40Said to have fathered 43 illegitimate children,
31:43he entertained in flamboyant style at his country home, Petworth House, in Sussex.
31:50Here Turner could come and go when he wanted.
31:53He could fish and paint and do as he pleased.
31:56He was even given his own room to work in.
32:03It was a relaxed household, perhaps even a little decadent.
32:06From his Petworth sketches,
32:08it seems that Turner was on hand to record many intimate moments.
32:14He was also very much part of Petworth's social world.
32:23That's him.
32:26When does he paint?
32:28God knows.
32:29He's either fishing or drinking during the day time.
32:32And is he a gentleman?
32:35See for yourself.
32:43Georgina, this is Mr. Turner.
32:45Ah.
32:46Ah.
32:48Ah.
32:50Ah.
32:52Ah.
32:54I...
32:55Sorry.
32:57Turner is often portrayed and described as being uncouth,
33:00awkward and self-centred.
33:02Perhaps he was.
33:10Perhaps not a gentleman.
33:13And certainly not charming.
33:17But he was also a man of great compassion and tenderness.
33:22Not to mention a romantic spirit.
33:39What time is it?
33:41It's...it's quite dirty.
33:44I rise early.
33:46I work until the house starts to awaken.
33:49I didn't mean to scare you.
33:51I...
33:53I have something for you.
33:58Open it, please.
34:07An apology.
34:09For my clumsiness.
34:13It's beautiful.
34:21As well as his numerous sketches of life inside the house,
34:24Turner made a series of paintings depicting stunning sunsets at Petworth.
34:29Three of these are now being restored at Tate Britain.
34:33Joyce, these paintings are all from Petworth.
34:36They look great to my eye.
34:38They're out of their frames, which is a real treat.
34:40It's a fantastic opportunity to look at Turner close up.
34:43So what kind of shape are they in?
34:45They're in pretty good condition.
34:47However, we're seeing them through a very yellow varnish.
34:50Varnish has turned yellow in about a generation.
34:52We have to try and picture how they looked when that varnish was new
34:56and we can get an idea if you look at it through a blue filter.
35:01Ah.
35:02And get some of that effect.
35:04Ah.
35:05Now that really makes a huge difference.
35:06It gives the painting a lot more depth and there's a greater contrast
35:09and also more colour of blues and pinks and so on.
35:12Looking at a Turner this close,
35:14you can see the range and delicacy of his use of materials.
35:18This is interesting because it's been stabbed in particularly thick here
35:22on the reflection, but here it looks like it's been thinned.
35:25Is that with turpentine?
35:27It didn't work terribly well thinning the paint,
35:29but you could add materials called McGilps
35:33made from oil and mastic varnish.
35:36This is one of the bottles from Turner's studio.
35:39This is Turner's actual bottle?
35:41It looked like this. It's Turner's actual bottle.
35:43You mix it in with the paint and then it was like painting with mayonnaise.
35:47It was lovely stuff to use.
35:49So does that mean that the quality of the paint itself
35:52as we now look at it is pretty well preserved
35:55or is this still an era where paints are going to crack
35:59and not look so good?
36:01Well, the McGilps did crack
36:03and when we look at some of the brown areas...
36:06Oh, yeah.
36:07..you see a fine network of cracks.
36:09The deer is particularly cracked, isn't it?
36:11However, this painting is not in bad condition,
36:13partly because it got away from Turner's studio
36:16and ended up in Petworth.
36:18What did Turner do then that meant that the works
36:20that he kept in his studio were so bad or in such bad condition?
36:23Well, Turner's studio was cold and damp and the rain came in
36:26and this one shows the rain damage.
36:28Wow. That's taken quite a hammering, actually.
36:31It's funny how... You can see the raindrops,
36:34but because it's Turner, there's a feeling that he's experimented
36:37with some kind of drip or dribble technique.
36:39Has this had to be heavily restored?
36:41It has been restored.
36:43Turner also used good-quality paper.
36:46He had to, because of the way he worked.
36:48Paper had to be strong enough to withstand that,
36:50so it could withstand the rain, too.
36:52So, in a sense, he's got an eye on posterity
36:54because he's using really good-quality materials
36:56and, for that reason, it'll stand the test of time.
36:58And the other things he did to them.
37:00For example, he used one canvas as a cat flap.
37:03It was blocking the window, possibly even a broken window,
37:06and there was a large tear in it.
37:08That's now been restored, too.
37:10Did he allow the cats to mingle around the studio
37:13so that you would find cat fur on the surfaces of work?
37:15I haven't found cat hair, but I have found some paw prints.
37:18Some paw prints? Come and look at this.
37:20I see no paw prints. What are we looking at here?
37:23This is one of the drawings for his perspective lectures.
37:26And when we look at the back, we can see the paw prints.
37:30That is quite amazing.
37:38The gallery where Turner's cats ran wild has long since gone,
37:42but some of the paints, palettes and paraphernalia
37:45still survive at the Tate.
37:47As Turner travelled further afield,
37:49the gallery, looked after by Sarah Damby's niece
37:52and Turner's ageing father, became ramshackled and chaotic.
37:56And when Turner was there,
37:58his techniques became chaotic and eccentric.
38:01Trying to capture ideas and effects as quickly as he could,
38:05his paintings often paid the price.
38:07He mixed oils with watercolours,
38:10resins with paints,
38:12pigments faded, varnishes cracked,
38:14restorers had to be called in.
38:16Constable rather unkindly said,
38:18much of his best work is swept off the carpet by the maid.
38:22But Turner could afford to be carefree.
38:25His paintings were in great demand
38:27and he was, in his own words,
38:29the great lion of the day.
38:32And once a year, here at the Royal Academy,
38:35he turned the routine of preparing for an exhibition
38:38into a remarkable display of virtuoso brilliance.
38:48In the days leading up to the annual exhibition,
38:51Academy members were allowed to complete their pictures
38:54in the gallery itself.
38:56These sessions were known as the Royal Gallery.
39:00These sessions were known as the Varnishing Days.
39:03Now, this is the room in which the exhibitions were staged,
39:07recreated to look exactly as it would have done in Turner's day,
39:11with pictures crammed in and piled high up the walls.
39:15The prized position was at eye level, on the line,
39:18and Turner was on the hanging committee
39:20to ensure that his paintings took pride of place.
39:23Here amongst colleagues and friends, Turner was in his element.
39:27He'd take a pinch paint from the palettes of other artists.
39:30He'd spit onto the surface of his pictures.
39:33He'd rub mysterious brown powders into the surface of the canvas.
39:37On one occasion, he wanted the image of a dog
39:40in the middle of a canvas to draw the eye in,
39:43but instead of painting it as usual,
39:45he'd cut the image of a dog out in paper
39:47and stuck it onto the picture.
39:51One year, by chance, a Turner was placed next to a painting
39:54by one of his great rivals, Constable,
39:56and Constable was causing quite a stir.
40:01The reds are the key.
40:03The vermilion, it gives a vigour to it.
40:07The whole thing's alive.
40:11But Constable's picture was breathtaking.
40:13It was a pageant of rich, powerful colour
40:16and drew everyone's attention.
40:18By contrast, Turner's painting was cold, grey,
40:22and frankly, a little dull.
40:27But this was Turner's crowning glory.
40:30This was his defining moment, his knockout punch,
40:33and yet here was his rival taking centre stage.
40:38Constable's use of red was brilliantly subtle.
40:41In layer upon layer of intricate detail,
40:43Constable had painstakingly delineated each soldier's uniform.
40:47Turner's use of red was brilliantly unsubtle.
40:56Constable was indignant.
40:59Turner has been here and fired a gun.
41:02Extraordinary. It's like red-hot coal.
41:05Red-hot coal in the middle of the cold, grey sea.
41:08Hardly feasible.
41:09It was a blob, Scarlet Sniper.
41:13And Turner wasn't finished yet.
41:15Later, he returned to fashion his red blob
41:18into an integral part of the painting.
41:21Ah! It's a boy.
41:24Ingenious. Do you see? It's a boy.
41:27Oh, yes, it's a boy.
41:29Of course it's a boy now, but before it...
41:31It wasn't.
41:33Ingenious.
41:35There was a part of Turner that was given to such flamboyant
41:38and eccentric displays, yet there was another, quieter,
41:42more profound and visionary side to his nature.
41:45In the same year as he painted this,
41:47he also painted Death On A Pale Horse.
41:54It's one of the darkest paintings imaginable.
41:59Turner painted it just after the death of his dearest friend.
42:08It's 7 and 6, sir.
42:107 and 6, you say?
42:117 and 6 is good work.
42:13It's fair work. It's fair to me.
42:16It's fair work. It's fair to Middling.
42:33William Turner had devoted his life to his son's career.
42:36He'd been his best friend, his assistant, his rock.
42:42Dad.
42:45I'm glad that I hated his head, Dad.
42:52He's going to tell me that now.
43:06Perhaps looking for comfort and reassurance,
43:08he returned to Margate, his childhood haunt.
43:12Here, he grew close to a woman called Sophia Booth,
43:15the owner of the house where he lodged.
43:21They stayed together for the rest of his life,
43:24but Turner again wanted to keep the relationship a secret,
43:27so he adopted an alter ego.
43:32The Booths of Margates.
43:34A handsome couple.
43:37Affectionate.
43:43Oh, uh...
43:45Admiral Puggy Booth.
43:51Meeting Sophia, coupled with the loss of his father,
43:54might have thrown Turner off course.
43:56Instead, in the next few years,
43:58he painted the pictures that have made him an immortal figure.
44:05It might not be that spectacular to look at,
44:07but this is an extraordinary fragment of history,
44:09and this altar chair is made from the timbers of a ship
44:12that fought heroically alongside Nelson's flagship, HMS Victory,
44:16at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
44:1933 years later, though, it was sold off for scrap.
44:23The name of this ship?
44:25The Fighting Temeraire.
44:27There's a story that while returning along the Thames from Margate,
44:31Turner saw the old Temeraire being towed to the Breaker's Yard.
44:35The legend's probably a myth, but the story of the Temeraire's end
44:38became the subject of Turner's best-loved work.
44:50This is a fantastic example of Turner at the height of his powers,
44:54and it's a picture full of contrast.
44:56On the right-hand side, there's the golden glow of the sun,
44:59all black, sinking down below the horizon.
45:02And on the left-hand side, there's the watery light of the moon
45:05in its ascendancy.
45:07This mirrors the central image of the picture,
45:10this squat, energised little tug, belching out fire and soot,
45:15pulling something ten times its size,
45:17the dignified ghostly hulk of the Temeraire itself,
45:21being towed to its death at the Breaker's Yard.
45:28The critics were ecstatic.
45:30There's something which affects us almost as deeply as the decay
45:33of a noble human being, wrote one.
45:36It's the most wonderful of all the works of the greatest master of the age,
45:39said another.
45:48In the painting, Turner leaves us with one final thought.
45:51If the Temeraire is being pulled towards London,
45:54then we must be looking east, and that's where the sun is setting,
45:58as if, for Turner, the world has gone mad.
46:07CLANGING
46:12Just imagine what this would have been like for Turner.
46:15Before the invention of the steam engine,
46:17the fastest way of getting around was on horseback,
46:19but suddenly a new way of experiencing and seeing the world was possible.
46:23So Turner jumps on a steam train, it's raining just like it is today,
46:27and he sticks his head out the window
46:29and sees a world racing past in blurred motion.
46:36WHISTLE BLOWS
46:42This is probably Turner's most radical painting.
46:45It shows the Great Western Railway line
46:47on Brunel's recently built bridge over the Thames at Maidenhead.
46:51But look again and you'll see that he's anchored this modern vision
46:55in the four elements as old as time itself.
47:00The canvas is awash. Water dominates the painting.
47:04The train is emerging from a storm, and the train is driven by steam.
47:09The steam is made from the fire in the engine heating the water.
47:13And the train thunders into the wind, creating a storm all of its own.
47:19Down below there are people, rooted to the earth,
47:22onlookers watching as this modern wonder flashes past.
47:27The natural world has been harnessed,
47:29but will man be able totally to overcome nature?
47:32In one tiny detail, Turner gives us the answer.
47:35A little hare races ahead of the train.
47:38Could the hare be too fast for this man-made beast?
47:41Will nature win out? No.
47:46One more glimpse at the three puffs of smoke tell us
47:49that the little hare better jump out of the way
47:51before he's gobbled up by the big bad train.
47:57Rain, steam and speed was Turner's emphatic response to the new world.
48:06Technology touched everyone.
48:08Even painters now faced new competition,
48:11not least with the development of the camera.
48:14Turner was spellbound.
48:21Joseph Myle, a pioneering photographer, had set up shop in London.
48:26And Turner, still pretending to be someone else,
48:29became a frequent visitor.
48:40I'm sorry, I... I just wandered in.
48:44My name's Myle.
48:46Yes, of course it is. And I'm Booth, Mr Booth.
48:50Oh, I thought...
48:52I've come because I've heard about your work.
48:54You've heard of my work?
48:56Yes, what you've been doing with the daguerreotype.
48:58Well, you've refined it.
49:00Tell me... Do you mind?
49:02Is this the future?
49:04Do you think it's, er...
49:06grinding lens, splitting light, this photographic method?
49:12Well, yes.
49:16So, er, these artists will be moving round the country with, er...
49:20just a box, like a tenker, instead of a portfolio underarm?
49:25No. I mean, some artists are almost visionary.
49:29It's different.
49:31May I make a picture of you?
49:33Why?
49:35Because you have an interesting face.
49:38Because I want to.
49:40Oh, yes, of course.
49:45Perfect. And be still.
49:51Come on, Mr Booth.
49:55As the real world became more mechanical,
49:58Turner was taking stock of his own.
50:01He'd begun to buy back paintings.
50:03For Sun Rising Through Vapour, he paid 490 guineas,
50:07well over £20,000 in today's money.
50:10And his new works were darker, strange and visionary.
50:15As if looking back on his life,
50:17he began to revisit places he'd seen and painted as a young man.
50:21One location held a special place in Turner's affections,
50:25Norham Castle, on the banks of the River Tweed in Northumberland.
50:34Turner made his first sketch of Norham Castle in 1797,
50:38and he came back here in the 1830s and doffed his hat.
50:42Because after the first completed image of the castle,
50:45he'd never been short of work.
50:47From that day to this, he explained,
50:49I've had as much to do as my hands could execute.
50:52But in the late great image of the castle, the emphasis has changed,
50:56and instead of focusing on the building and the surrounding landscape,
51:00the stress is centrally on the effects of the rising sun.
51:05It's almost as if the castle is floating in the mist.
51:11Where once he was making watercolours look like oils,
51:14now Turner is doing the opposite.
51:20Eric Shanes has begun a version of Norham Castle
51:23to get to the heart of Turner's time.
51:26He's now painting a picture of the castle,
51:30Eric Shanes has begun a version of Norham Castle
51:33to get to the heart of Turner's techniques in his later years.
51:37Well, I think he was using, we know,
51:41a watercolour stroke oil painting type of medium,
51:45which had come on the market fairly recently.
51:48And there are areas in the Turner where one can see quite clearly
51:52very, very thin washes,
51:54which suggest that they were made with this kind of medium,
51:57if not even with watercolour itself.
51:59I mean, as everybody knows, you can't mix oil and water,
52:03but there are these runnels of colour here,
52:06which look very much like they've been made with watercolour,
52:09because you've got these blue ridges
52:11right at the edge of each trickle of colour,
52:14and that's exactly what happens with watercolour.
52:16It doesn't happen with oil paint.
52:18He's using a whole variety, the whole gamut
52:21of different paint applications at his disposal.
52:24You can see the way he's put it on very thickly with a palette knife.
52:28I mean, he's quite clearly used the palette knife
52:30and pulled the knife off the surface.
52:32He's applied the paint by smearing it.
52:35He's undoubtedly used his fingers to rub it.
52:38He's used the wooden end of the brush
52:41to scratch marks out down here,
52:43and the result of that is to make the eye blinded
52:47with the brilliance of the light
52:49that he's projecting through the image.
52:51Is this the natural culmination of what he's done all his life,
52:54or has he suddenly taken a radical departure?
52:56No, I think it is the natural culmination
52:58of everything that had come before.
53:00Now, of course, Turner's living by this time, 1845, 1848,
53:04in an age of fantastically meticulous Victorian realism and representation,
53:10and then people see paintings like this,
53:13and they think that Turner's taken leave of his senses.
53:16Queen Victoria thought that Turner was completely mad.
53:21People had been thinking he was mad for years.
53:24He was out on a limb and was subsequently ridiculed.
53:27''It looks like a lady getting out of a large mustard pot,''
53:30someone said about a rare portrait.
53:32The poet Wordsworth said,
53:34''It looks to me as if the painter had indulged in raw liver.''
53:37The critics looked at Juliet and her nurse
53:40and asked what Juliet was doing in Venice.
53:42Shouldn't she be in Verona?
53:45But the cruelest words were saved for that most breathtaking of paintings.
53:55Snowstorm, the painting that launched the legend
53:58that he lashed himself to a mast,
54:00was simply too much for most people to take.
54:15After it was exhibited, they tore into him.
54:18One said, ''This gentleman has on former occasions
54:21''chosen to paint with cream, chocolate, egg and jelly.''
54:25Here, he uses the whole array of Kitchen's stuff.
54:30Most famously, the painting was dismissed as Soapsuds and Whitewash.
54:36Soapsuds and Whitewash. Soapsuds and Whitewash. Soapsuds and Whitewash.
54:41Soapsuds and Whitewash.
54:43Soapsuds and Whitewash.
54:47William!
54:49I will be heard!
54:54Vision, William.
54:57Vision.
55:01The man who'd been master of his age
55:03continued to paint and exhibit to the last,
55:06but his visions of light and dark, death and angels,
55:09now only seemed to perplex the public.
55:13CHOIR SINGS
55:44He died in a house next to his beloved River Thames at the age of 76.
55:55In his will, he bequeathed a vast collection of his works to the nation.
56:01Today, they're housed in the Claw Gallery at Tate Britain.
56:05A bequest of over 100 finished paintings,
56:08some 200 unfinished paintings
56:11and more than 19,000 sketches, drawings and portraits.
56:18The Claw Gallery is the largest gallery in the world.
56:22It's the largest gallery in the world.
56:25It's the largest gallery in the world.
56:28It's the largest gallery in the world.
56:31It's the largest gallery in the world.
56:34The bequest would have contained even more items,
56:37but for an extraordinary event that took place shortly after Turner's death.
56:45John Ruskin, the most influential art critic of his day
56:49and long since one of Turner's most fervent admirers,
56:52was given the mammoth task of sorting through the collection.
56:56Through the endless sketchbooks, drawings and paintings,
56:59he unearthed one final astonishing secret,
57:02a secret he felt would have shaken the Victorian establishment in Britain to the core.
57:09In his last years, Turner used to go down to the docks.
57:12There in the pubs, he'd meet and sketch prostitutes.
57:16In the bequest, there were hundreds of these amazingly graphic drawings.
57:22Fearing that this would cause a scandal
57:24and ruin the reputation of Britain's greatest painter,
57:27Ruskin took it upon himself to destroy the secret bequest.
57:39There was one special clause in Turner's will
57:42that was implemented soon after his death.
57:45In the centre of London, at the National Gallery,
57:48in a small octagonal room next to the Claude Lorrain painting
57:52which had won a cry all those years ago,
57:55hangs Turner's Dido building Carthage.
57:58It was Turner's wish that the two paintings be displayed side by side,
58:03as if to show that he felt worthy of comparison.
58:06Today, though, Turner stands above those comparisons
58:10and is indisputably revered as one of the masters of Western art.
58:22Six Music's Matt Everett interviews major artists
58:26about the pivotal moments and songs that shaped their lives and careers.
58:31Listen now to The First Time with Matt Everett on BBC Sounds.
58:52BELLS CHIMING