CHAPTER LVIII

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.'