AFA Winter 2019

Winter 70 www.afamag.com | w ww.incollect.com J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851), View of Fonthill Abbey , ca. 1799–1800. Graphite and watercolor on paper, 1055 x 711 mm. Tate: Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856 © Tate, 2019. This misty view of Fonthill Abbey in Wiltshire, England, confirms Turner’s preternatural talents in watercolor early in his life, even though this work wasn’t completed. The techniques on view here, somehow folding England’s moist climate onto the page, are clearly advanced beyond conventions for the medium at this moment in British art. This is what would have been called an “exhibition watercolor,” meaning it was intended to be shown at the Royal Academy, alongside and in competition with oil paintings. This largely accounts for its more subdued palette, matching the somber works in the more senior medium. Turner’s experimentation with bright color developed steadily over his mature career, so that works like the Venice lagoon pictured here bear little resemblance to this early watercolor.