1908: FIFTY-TWO MORE 'UNEXHIBITED' TURNERS SHOWN AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY
In July 1908, it was announced that the Director of the National
Gallery had 'discovered' in the private offices, three large
water-colours by Turner. Later in the year, in the month of December,
these, with forty-nine other examples that had never been exhibited
before, were 'cleaned, mounted, framed,' and hung temporarily in
Room XXII. of the National Gallery. This series, although extremely
interesting, was not of the importance of the 1906 display. Some of
the water-colours and pencil drawings, it is said, were found in a
portfolio at the back of a bookcase, and the twelve oil studies in
a dusty parcel bearing Ruskin's initials. Those oil studies, as has
already been explained, were painted between 1805 and 1810 in oil on
thin veneer; the forty water-colours were painted round about the year
1800, and included several of large size, such as 'Derwentwater,'
'Study for a Picture of Norham Castle,' and 'Scarborough Castle' These
'new' Turners remained for some time on screens in Room XXII. of the
National Gallery, drawing crowds of people eager to see so many of the
'delight drawings' and studies by Turner, some of them 'prentice work;
some of the highest importance, but done before he had quite mastered
his material; some flashes of genius.
In 1910 they were removed to their last home in the Turner Gallery at
Millbank, and in that year six more were added to the series--'St.
Catherine's Hill, Guildford,' 2676; 'Newark Abbey,' 2677; 'Windsor from
Lower Hope,' 2678; 'The Ford,' 2679; 'Sketch for Walton Bridges,' 2680;
'Walton Reach,' 2681. Here are the titles of the twelve oil sketches,
and the forty water-colours. The Arabic numerals are those of the
Catalogue, the Roman numerals and letters against the water-colours
are the numbers and pages of the Sketch-Books and Sections in the
_Inventory._
_Oil Sketches_
'Newark Abbey.' No. 2302.
'A Narrow Valley.' No. 2303.
'A Wide Valley with a Town and Spire.' No. 2304.
'The Thames near Windsor.' No. 2305.
'Windsor Castle from the River.' No. 2306.
'A Town on the Thames.' No. 2307.
'Windsor Castle from the Meadows.' No. 2308.
'Tree-tops and Sky.' No. 2309.
'A River with a Castle and Village.' No. 2310.
'Sunset on the River.' No. 2311.
'Windsor Castle from Salt Hill.' No. 2312.
'Eton from the River.' No. 2313.
_Water-colour Sketches_
'View of Windsor Castle.' No. XXXIII. (H).
'Durham Cathedral.' No. XXXVI. (G).
'Derwentwater.' No. XXXVI. (H).
'Head of Derwentwater.' No. XXXVI. (I).
'Langdale Pikes.' No. XXXVI. (J).
'Coniston Old Man.' No. XXXVI. (L).
'Coniston Old Man.' No. XXXVI. (U).
'Rood Screen of a Church, seen from north Transept.' No. L. (A).
'Study for a Picture of Norham Castle' (1). No. L. (B).
'Study for a Picture of Norham Castle' (2). No. L. (C).
'Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.' No. L. (G).
'Donkeys beside a Mine Shaft.' No. LX. (I).
'A Castle seen through Trees.' No. LXIV. (L).
'Windsor Park. The Horses by Sawrey Gilpin, R.A.' No.
LXX. (G).
'St. Agatha's Abbey.' (?) No. LXX. (H).
'The Ford.' No. LXX. (K).
'Study for Historical Subject.' No. LXX. (N).
'Dolbadern Castle.' No. LXX. (O).
'Fonthill Abbey.' No. LXX. (P).
'A Welsh Mountain Subject.' No. LXX. (Q),
'Stormy Sunset in Wales.' No. LXX. (U).
'Falls of Schaffhausen from below.' No. LXXIX. (B),
'Falls of Schaffhausen and Castle.' No. LXXIX. (C).
'Schaffhausen from below the Falls.' No. LXXIX. (E).
'The Source of the Arveron' (1). No. LXXIX. (F).
'The Source of the Arveron' (2). No. LXXIX. (G).
'The Source of the Arveron' (3). No. LXXIX. (L).
'A Road among Mountains.' No. LXXIX (H).
'A Valley Between Mountains.' No. LXXIX. (K).
'Gordale Scar.' No. CLIV. (O).
'Great End, Scawfell Pikes.' No. CLIV. (M).
'Barden Towers.' No. CLIV. (L).
'Head of Derwentwater.' No. CLIV. (N).
'Scarborough.' No. CXCVI. (C).
'An Italian Scene.' No. CXCVI. (X).
'Ruins of an Amphitheatre.' No. CXCVI. (Z).
'Stormy Evening on Coast.' No. CCLXIII. (334).
'A Sea Piece, Evening.' No. CCLXII. (333).
'Carnarvon Castle.' No. LXX. (M).
'Scene in the Great St. Bernard Pass (?).' No. LXXX. (D).
The Turnerian surprises were not yet finished. They culminated in the
announcement that one of the desires expressed by the painter in his
will, namely, that his pictures should be kept together in a building
to be called the 'Turner Gallery,' was at last about to be fulfilled
through the generosity of Mr. J. J. Duveen, afterwards Sir Joseph
Duveen, who offered to add a new wing, comprising five rooms, with
other rooms below, to the National Gallery of British Art, for the
exhibition of the Turner Bequest. It was stated that the whole of the
Turner collection would be removed to this building, with the exception
of such pictures as should be needed sufficiently to exemplify the
Master in the representative British School at Trafalgar Square,
including the two works which, in fulfilment of the terms of his will,
hang side by side with two pictures by Claude Lorrain.
So at last the dream which many of us had been dreaming for years, and
working for in writing and speech, was to be realised. It first became,
I think, a subject of public interest through a letter that Mr. Lionel
Cust wrote to the editor of the _Times_ in July 1906, at a time when
the Government authorities contemplated utilising the vacant land at
the back of the Tate Gallery for a new Stationery Office. The support
given to Mr. Cust's proposals caused the abandonment of this scheme,
and the Director of the National Gallery was informed by the First
Commissioner of Works that if a certain sum of money could be provided
from private sources to erect a Turner Gallery, the Government would
be prepared to find the remainder. Thanks to the efforts of Sir Hugh
Gilzean Reid, this sum was within a near distance of being secured,
when further need for it was removed by the generous action of Mr.
Duveen, who offered to erect a Turner Gallery at his own cost.
In 1907 the nation became indebted to Mr. C. Mallord Turner for a
number of Turner relics. This collection, lent for a period of ten
years, includes two cases of models of ships and a cabinet of glass
jars of colour from the artist's house; an oil-colour box with palette
and brushes; a travelling pocket-book holding cakes of water-colour;
several drawings, and a letter from Turner to his father; the catalogue
of pictures and drawings on exhibition at his gallery in 1809; one
of the original copper plates for the _Liber Studiorum_, etched and
mezzotinted by himself; eight volumes from his library, including guide
and handbooks, with annotations and sketches by Turner; and a volume
of MS. poems, and specimen MSS. of the lectures given by him at the
Royal Academy as Professor of Perspective. Another donation, from Mr.
Sidney Cockerell, was a portrait of Turner by Charles Turner, with an
inscription on the back, stating that the drawing was made about two
months before the death of the sitter, in 1851. It is a profile to
right, head and shoulders, and the official description of the garments
he wears is--'tall hat, white collar, large tie with pin and top-coat.'
In the months of May and June, 1910, the Turner Room at the National
Gallery, the well-known, well-loved room was dismantled, and in June,
the Turner Room at the Tate Gallery was closed, and the 'unfinished'
oils were carried through the doorway of the new Turner wing, now
ready for hanging. A screen was placed before the entrance, but the
visitor looking above the screen had a glimpse of the brilliant red
wall-hangings, and he wondered, somewhat anxiously, how the old dark
Turners would look in their new and gorgeous environment.
The very early pictures have not been admitted to the splendour. They
hang outside the annexe, on the dividing wall separating Room V. from
the Turner Gallery, four on one side of the doorway, four on the other,
examples of the Turner who had not begun to find his way. Some of the
titles suggest light and air, but the execution is heavy and fumbling,
and they are blackened by time. At the extreme left is the little
'Carnarvon Castle' of the year 1800; above is a trifle called 'View
of a Town,' of 1798. In the middle of the group is the huge 'Morning
on the Coniston Fells, Lancashire,' exhibited in 1798, muddled,
inconsequent, almost a libel on the fines from _Paradise Lost_ that
accompanied it--
'Ye mists and exhalations that now arise,
From hill or streaming lake, dusky or grey,
Till the sun paint your fleecy skirts with gold,
In honour to the world's great Author rise.'
Adjoining this blackened 'Morning' is an unimportant, hardly noticeable
'Sea Piece,' painted about 1802.
On the other side of the doorway is the 'Moonlight, a Study at
Millbank,' of 1797, looking like a fog at midnight dominated by a
moon--like a wafer. Adjoining it is the pleasant self-portrait, painted
in 1802 when he was twenty-seven--Turner with the strong chin, loose
lower lip and the observant eyes, gazing straight out at the world.
Next to it is the 'Mountain Scene' of 1800, small and poor, and beneath
is the straightly-seen 'View on Clapham Common,' quite attractive.
Almost pathetic is this wall of timid and indifferent early Turners,
hanging just without the precincts of the superb array of his life
work, but interesting as showing from what insignificant beginnings
rose the mighty edifice. I think if I had my way, I would make the
contrast even more marked, almost epigrammatic. I would hang the little
'Moonlight at Millbank' just above the 'Sunrise With a Boat Between
Headlands,' and the little 'Carnarvon Castle' against the loveliness of
'Norham Castle' at dawn.
Again and again I visited this threshold room, barred by a screen from
the new Turner Gallery. At ten o'clock on the morning of July 18th,
1910, I was there again with an invitation-card to view the 'New Turner
Wing.'