The artist JMW Turner in Yorkshire

How many of you knew that the great landscape artist JMW Turner (1775-1851) spent time sketching and painting in Yorkshire?

York Art Gallery held an exhibition in 1980 that featured many of his works from around our area and we have the exhibition catalogue on the Library shelves. It’s only a slim booklet with black and white images but it makes for interesting reading. Turner painted scenes all over the county, including Ilkley Moor, Knaresborough and Whitby, and produced this beautiful painting of York Minster, viewed from the River Ouse, c.1815.

View of York Minster from the River Ouse
Image courtesy of www.william-turner.org  - click to enlarge

It's difficult to tell exactly where the artist must have been positioned for this view. Does anyone have a suggestion?

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Snow Storm, Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps 1812
Image courtesy of www.william-turner.org - click to enlarge

The picture to the left is Turner's Hannibal Crossing the Alps. According to William-Turner.org, the tempestuous backdrop of this famous scene is "reputed to have been inspired by a storm over Otley's Chevin while Turner was staying at Farnley Hall".



(For those readers who have completed the gruelling Boxing Day Chevin Chase run this information will come as no surprise.)