Arranged chronologically the book is divided into six chapters; chapter one covers the first twenty five years of Turner's life with the other five chapters covering ten years each. Well written and very readable the text provides an insight into Turner the man and Turner the artist, and includes numerous quotations from Turner and his contemporaries; it succeeds among other things in bringing alive the artist as a person.

Concluding the book is an extensive Chronology; Inventory of the Late Residence of J.M.W. Turner; Turner's Library; Bibliography; a detailed List of Illustrations and an Index.

The book is fully illustrated throughout, with the images usually on or close to the page on which they are discussed. In total there are 186 illustrations of which 164 are in colour. The illustrations not in colour are mostly engravings and the like, period photographs or the work of other artists. The majority of the illustrations of Tuner's work are full page (or as large as the picture format will allow on the page with a margin), with some full-page or page-and-half bleed images along with a few double page images. There are a few actual-size details of paintings; very informative. The quality of the pictures is excellent, often revealing the texture of the paint, and the colour very good. Very usefully each picture is accompanied by a brief description or commentary, but irritatingly not with the details of the pictures dimensions; surely with the great range in size of Turner's work these should be included alongside the image, (there are of course to be found in the List of Illustrations).

This is a large handsome volume, almost square in format, which provides a very good survey of the artist and his work. It covers all aspects of Tuner's output, including his oils, water colours and examples from his sketch-books. The choice of work ranges from the very well known to the "I didn't know Turner painted that!" Very interesting are the few examples of his very early work, including a water colour produced when he was about eleven years old. Providing as it does a comprehensive overview of the artist and his work, this is a very worthwhile publication.

I was very satisfied with my purchase. I was also impressed by the speedy delivery time from Amazon.
Regards,
Craig Taylor

Beautiful Turner book with many colour reproductions, excellent chronology. Flawless work! Highly recommended Thames & Hudson art monograph.

I checked this book out at my local library. It is so good, I'm going to buy it. While I knew who Turner was and had seen one or two reproductions of his work in books about other, later artists, I had seen little of his work and knew nothing about him before reading this book. It has been an absolutely wonderful introduction and has spurred me to look for more about Turner's art. There are something like 168 reproductions of oil paintings, watercolors, and drawings; most of them are large and in color; all of them are outstanding. I have looked at them in awe. The great landscape painter is himself a marvel. His prodigious talent revealed itself very early (by age 11 at least) and was recognized by his father, a London barber. He hung his son's paintings in the window of his barbershop with prices attached. Thus, Turner was a professional from childhood. In as much he was blessed with a reasonably long, healthy, and extremely productive life as well as extraordinary creativity which increased, rather than decreased with age, Turner left the world with a huge treasure-trove of great art. Stylistically it spans the period from the Old Masters of the seventeen century to the Expressionists, and in my view, towards the end of his career, it verges on Abstract Expressionism.

This book is a biography of the artist as he was perceived during his life. Thus, it is filled with an abundance of quotations from contemporary sources, which serves to make Turner a very real and likeable, though very prickly, man. However, the emphasis is on the pictures. Wilton is a Turner scholar. His discussion is well-informed, without being pedantic or impenetrably academic. He has appended lists of the contents of Turner's house/studio and the contents of his library, which were made after his death, a bibliography, and an index of the pictures included in the book, which identifies their locations.

Excellent reproductions that will knock your socks off. Also, interesting read.