J.M.W. Turner's East Anglian Watercolours - online with Dr Richard Hoggett

Title picture above: Turner's painting of Orford Castle, c. 1824 (public domain image of the orginal, now part of the Tate Britain collection).

J.M.W. Turner's East Anglian Watercolours - with Dr Richard Hoggett FSA MCIfA

To mark the 250th birthday of J.M.W. Turner, this study day examines a series of watercolours he made of sites along the East Anglian coast in the 1820s, including views of Orford, Aldeburgh, Dunwich, Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth and Happisburgh. These images capture East Anglia in Turner’s characteristic style and are part of the wider ‘topographic landscape’ movement, telling us a great deal about the beautiful landscape and wealth of historic buildings to be found along this outstanding stretch of coast.

Provisional Timetable

10.15 –11.15: A Portrait of the Artist - The first session of the day introduces Turner as an artist and places his work into the context of the topographic landscape movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, which saw the recording of historic sites and monuments and is allied to the emergence of antiquarianism. It also explores the 19th-century fashion for engravings, which were very popular among the emerging middle class and which provide a visual record of many of our most famous sites and landscapes.

11.15 -11.40: coffee break

11.40 -12.40: Turner’s East Anglian Sketchbooks - Turner was a prolific artist, producing over 80,000 works during his lifetime and filling hundreds of sketchbooks. This session leafs through Turner’s East Anglian sketchbooks, which allow us reconstruct something of his visit to the region in the early 1820s and reveal much about his approach to capturing and recording the countryside through which he travelled.

12.40 -13.30: lunch break

13.30 - c.14.30: 'Picturesque Views' - This session examines two batches of East Anglian paintings which Turner produced, featuring views of Aldeburgh, Orford, Dunwich, Lowestoft, Great Yarmouth and Happisburgh. These images formed part of the ‘Picturesque Views in England and Wales’ series, published between 1827 and 1838, and part of an ultimately unpublished ‘Picturesque Views on the East Coast of England’ series begun c. 1827.

About Dr Richard Hogget FSA MCIfA

Dr Richard Hoggett is a freelance heritage consultant, writer and lecturer with over 25 years’ experience in the academic, commercial and local authority heritage sectors. He is the author of The Archaeology of the East Anglian Conversion (2010), The Book of Happisburgh (2011) and from 2006–13 was the editor of the peer-reviewed journal Norfolk Archaeology. He is a confident and popular public speaker and has lectured extensively on a wide range of subjects for institutions and organisations throughout the eastern region. In 2016 he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Although best known as an Anglo-Saxon specialist, Richard has been captivated by the work of J.M.W. Turner from an early age and has continued to explore Turner’s depictions of the British landscape alongside his various day jobs. He is grateful for the opportunity to share his passion with a wider audience.

Some Suggestions for Optional Background Reading

• Bailey, A. 1997. Standing in the Sun: A Life of J.M.W. Turner. Tate Publishing.
• Brown, D.B. 2012. J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours. Tate Research Publications. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner
• Herrmann, L. 1990. Turner Prints: The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner. Phaidon.
• Herrmann, L. 2004. ‘Turner, Joseph Mallord William (1775–1851)’ Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/index/27/101027854/
• Moyle, F. 2016. The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of J. M. W. Turner. Viking.
• Rawlinson, W.G. 1908. The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, R.A. Volume I. MacMillian and Co. Ltd. https://archive.org/details/engravedworkofj01rawliala
• Rawlinson, W.G. 1913. The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, R.A. Volume 2. MacMillian and Co. Ltd. https://archive.org/details/gri_33125001464789
• Redding, C. 1852. ‘The Late Joseph Mallord William Turner’, Fraser’s Magazine Vol. XLV, No. 266, pp. 150–6. https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015030944907
• Shanes, E. 1980. Turner’s Picturesque Views in England and Wales. Chattos & Windus.
• Shanes, E. 1981. Turner’s Rivers, Harbours and Coasts. Chattos & Windus.
• Shanes, E. 1990. Turner’s England. Cassell.
• Shanes, E. 2016. Young Mr Turner: The First Forty Years 1775–1815. Yale University Press.
• In Our Time: The Fighting Téméraire: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b081r260

Above: 'The Fighting Téméraire' - perhaps Turner's most famous painting, 1838 (Wikipedia / public domain image of the orginal, now in the National Gallery).

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