Exhibitions - Previous Exhibitions - JMW Turner's Yorkshire

After the huge success of last years' Turner exhibition . apart from not enough Yorkshire scenes . we are delighted to have another Turner exhibition featuring just Yorkshire landscapes. We will be showing Original Etchings with Mezzotint of Britain's most creative and perceptive landscape artist.

J.M.W. Turner is widely recognised, along with John Constable, as one of the most original geniuses in the history of English landscape painting and printmaking. Initially he was influenced by 17th century Dutch landscape painting, then by the classical aspects of Claude and thirdly by the 18th century English painter Richard Wilson.

However, before the age of thirty Turner's own new and original approach to landscape was becoming apparent in his handling of light effects and atmosphere. He rapidly developed his highly romantic treatment of landscape with such elements as vivid sense of movement in cloudscapes, mountain scenes, waterfalls, steep wooded ravines and the like.

Turner was also a brilliant printmaker and perhaps his first major initiative in this field was the Claude inspired "Liber Studiorum" of 1807-1819. In the latter year Turner also commenced another important print enterprise, being his illustrations for Dr Whitakerr's "History of Richmondshire" (Yorkshire).

For this work Turner executed twenty wonderful watercolours after which the engraved plates were made. To take just one image as an example of Turner's genius, "Richmond Castle and Town", this engraving shows several elements typical of his work and its dramatic moving clouds and majestic ruined castle set on the edge of a sheer rock face.