1837: AGED SIXTY-TWO
'TROUBLES BEGIN TO GATHER ABOUT HIM. NOTHING WILL GO RIGHT'
The pictures exhibited in 1837 did not restore Turner to favour. They
included the 'Snowstorm, Avalanche and Inundation,' described as a
'tumult of cloud, wind and raging torrent in the gorge,' the sketch
for which he had made on his way to Italy with Munro of Novar; and
the 'Departure of Regulus,' which Ruskin included among the 'nonsense
pictures.'
Troubles begin to gather about him. Nothing will go right. The
beautiful _England and Wales_ series had been received with so little
favour that it was decided to discontinue the issue. The stock was put
up for auction, but Turner opened negotiations and purchased the whole
privately for three thousand pounds. Many of those present were willing
to buy portions of the work. To one of these Turner said: 'So, sir, you
were going to buy my _England and Wales_ to sell cheap, I suppose--make
umbrella prints of them, eh? But I have taken care of that. No more of
my plates shall be worn to shadows.'
The dealer tried to explain that he wanted only the printed stock, and
Turner seemed to understand, made an appointment, then forgot all about
the matter.
Fighting the world of men, he never wearied in finding his way about
the world of nature, recording his impressions, and adding with
difficulty to his small stock of education. On the first page of the
'Dresden' Sketch-Book is the following:--
'I want to go to Berlin.
Ich will nach Berlin gehen.
I wish to see.
Ich wollte--sehen, etc.'
A little later he comes into his own joys again--twenty-one pages of
'Buildings,' and sixteen of 'Views on River,' with sketches of sunsets
and rocks, distant coasts and sailing boats--anything so long as it was
beautiful in light, line or movement.