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Friday 8 July 2011

J. M. W. Turner and Lyme Regis

J. M. W. Turner (1775 - 1851) was a landscape painter whose name has become almost synonymous with adventurous British art -- the prestigious Turner Prize is named in his honour. Turner (whose self-portrait is shown on the right, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons) is especially remembered for his maritime scenes, ranging from dramatic naval battles to peaceful English seaside towns.

Turner produced watercolour paintings of Lyme Regis on at least two occasions:


There is also a small oil painting entitled "Shrimpers at Lyme Regis" on display in the drawing room of Nunnington Hall in North Yorkshire, which has recently been attributed to Turner.

For further information on Lyme's artistic heritage, see the Writers and Artists page of the Lyme Regis Museum website.

4 comments:

Lorraine Chamen said...

Can we persuade Cincinnati to let us have that lovely painting for just a little while?!
Lorraine

Andrew May said...

The Tate gallery has a couple of engravings that were made from the Cincinatti painting that might be easier to get hold of. Amusingly, one of the engravings is entitled "Lyme Regis, Norfolk"! See http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999998&workid=15274&searchid=9251&tabview=text

Anonymous said...

Maybe the exclamation mark and the word 'Amusingly' are inappropriate. The Wikipedia entry for Marquess Townshend says: "The current Marquess holds the subsidiary titles Viscount Townshend, of Raynham in the County of Norfolk (created 1682) and Baron Townshend, of Lynn Regis in the County of Norfolk (created 1661) both of which in the Peerage of England."

Andrew May said...

Thanks very much for the info. It hadn't occurred to me that King's Lynn = "Lynn Regis" in Latin, but it's obvious now you point it out.