not, it is probable that he was hurt by its not having been offered to him. Probably, also, he expected to fill the chair of the Academy, on the death of Sir Martin Shee; but greatly as his genius would have adorned it, on almost every other account, he was incapable of occupying it with credit to himself or the institution; for he was a confused speaker, and wayward and peculiar in many of his opinions, and expected a degree of deference on account of his age and high standing as a painter, which the members could not invariably pay him, consistently with the interests of the Academy and of the Art.

His few patrons among the aristocracy were Lord Egremont; Lord Yarborough, for whom he painted one of his largest and grandest pictures; and the Marquis of Stafford, for whom he painted another, as fine. Mr. Rogers, with less means of patronage, was always his great admirer; and has associated his name with that of Turner in one of the most beautifully illustrated volumes that has ever appeared.

TURNER'S INDUSTRY.

Nothing but a constant observation of Nature, and a contemplation of the best coloured pictures, can ever lead to excellence. Turner was a great example of this: his industry was indefatigable, and his study uninterrupted. His physical and bodily powers were calculated for this fatigue, and his love for pre-eminence in his profession made it an enjoyment. His memory was most retentive; and the sketches and trials he made and he must have made many,-served as beacons to guide him with certainty in his career. Wilkie and Etty were contemporary examples of the same untiring progress; and it may be remarked that all the three were men of the same opinion with regard to the situation of hot and cold colours. Wilkie, in his Journal, speaking of the great picture of Correggio, says," And here I observe that hot shadows prevail, not cold, as some of us would have it. This he has

to a fault, making parts of his figures look like red chalk drawings; but the sunny and dazzling effect of the whole may be attributed to this artifice." In a letter to Phillips, he says, no one knew the value of this treatment better than Turner.-Turner and his Works.

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TURNER'S LANDSCAPE ART.

It may be generally stated, (says Mr. Ruskin,) that Turner is the only painter, so far as I know, who has ever drawn the sky, (not the clear sky, which belonged exclusively to the religious schools, but the various forms and phenomena of the cloudy heavens,) all previous artists having only represented it typically or partially; but he absolutely and universally he is the only painter who has ever drawn a mountain or a stone ;. no other man having ever learned their organization, or possessed himself of their spirit, except in part, or obscurely. He is the only painter who ever drew the stem of a tree, Titian having come the nearest before him, and excelling him in the muscular development of the larger trunks, (though sometimes losing the woody strength in a serpent-like flaccidity,) but missing the grace and character of the ramifications. He is the only painter who has ever painted the surface of calm, or the force of agitated water; who has represented the effects of space on distant objects, or who has rendered the abstract beauty of natural colour. These assertions I make deliberately, after careful weighing and consideration, in no spirit of dispute, or momentary zeal; but from strong and convinced feeling, and with the consciousness of being able to prove them.-Modern Painters, vol. i.

STUDYING NATURE.

It is often said, study Nature; but Nature does not compose: her beautiful arrangements are accidental combinations, and none but an educated eye can discover why they are so. Nature ought to form, and does form the materials for a fine picture; but to select, and reject, to adapt the individual parts to the production of a perfect whole, is the work of the artist, and this it is that stamps the emanations of genius. Much of this knowledge must be acquired by the artist himself. Turner was not a solitary being, because his rambles were unaccompanied by others; he was holding discourse with the beautiful imagery of Nature, and inquiring the cause of such beautiful effects.

Turner's sketches from Nature were generally slight pencil outlines, but he had an eye capable of perceiving her beautiful imagery, and a memory to retain it. Mr. Woodburn told Mr. Burnet an example of this power in Turner. Driving

down to his house at Hendon, a beautiful sunset burst forth : Turner asked to have the carriage stopped: this was done, and he remained a long time in silent contemplation. Some weeks afterwards, when Mr. Woodburn called on him in Queen Anne-street, he saw this identical sky in his Gallery, and wished to have a landscape added to it; Turner refused the commission-he would not part with it. Wilkie used to call these studies "his stock in trade."

TURNER'S "COLOUR"-A HINT FROM ADDISON.

To convey any adequate idea of the beauty of Turner's colour, either by words or imperfect sketches, is difficult; but it is possible to point out wherein it consists; and could we divest the public mind of that proneness to investigate the faults of any one in preference to the beauties of their works, we might succeed to a certain extent; time and the accumulation of approval alone can accomplish this. Colour is the great ornament and decoration of Nature's works. Addison, in one of his papers in the Spectator, observes, what a poor show her works would present were they of one uniform colour. His words are: 66 things would make but a poor appearance to the eye if we saw them only in their proper figures and motions; and what reason can we assign for their exciting in us so many of those ideas which are different from anything that exists in the objects themselves, for such are light and colours, were it not to add supernumerary ornaments to the universe, and make it more agreeable to the imagination? We are everywhere entertained with pleasing shows and apparitions; we discover imaginary glories in the heavens and in the earth; and we see some of this visionary beauty poured out upon the whole creation.

"But what a rough unsightly view of Nature should we be entertained with did all her colouring disappear, and the several distinctions of light and shade vanish."

No one has been more alive to this doctrine than our artist, whose works teem with incontrovertible examples; yet, when his pictures are reduced to mere black and white, by means of engravings, they appear to lose less of their beauty than her own productions; this, of course, arises from the elegance of the composition of form, and the scientific combinations of light and shade. This, among many other proofs, shows that Turner's arrangement of colour is based

upon the foundation of chiaroscuro. In her most accidental, and apparently unpromising materials, for a work of art, Nature always has some redeeming points that assert her superiority over the laboured compositions of fireside inventions; but these must be seen and appreciated by the artist, and no one could perceive and aggrandise these beauties in a clearer or greater degree than Turner.-Burnet: Turner and his Works.

PORTRAITS OF TURNER.

Mr. Leslie regrets that "Turner never would sit for a portrait excepting when he was a young man, and then only for a profile by Dance. This is, therefore, the only satisfactory likeness of him extant." But there is a portrait of Turner in the collection at South Kensington: it was painted by himself, about 1802; bust, life-size, and in evening dress.

In the year 1800, he sat for a series of small-sized portraits of members of the Royal Academy. He always had an impression that any knowledge of his burly form and uncouth farmer-looking appearance would affect the poetry of his works. He considered that it would throw a doubt upon their genuineness. "No one," he said, "would believe, upon seeing my likeness, that I painted those pictures." One or two portraits were, however, taken of him surreptitiously. Mr. Smith, of the British Museum, obtained a sketch of him. A very fair full-length sketch of Turner was published May 10th, 1845, in the Illustrated London News. The best and only finished portrait of him is, however, one of half-size, in oil, by J. Linnell. It was the result of a plot, which may now be revealed without offence to the honoured victim. The Rev. Mr. Daniell, a gentleman who was extremely intimate with Turner, prevailed upon his eccentric friend occasionally to dine with him. Linnell, without exciting any suspicion of his object, was always one of the party, and by sketching on his thumb-nail, and, unobserved, on scraps of paper, he at length succeeded in transferring the portly bust and sparkling eye of the great artist to his canvas. The picture was finished, and passed in due time, at the price of two hundred guineas, into the possession of Mr. Birch, a gentleman residing near Birmingham. Turner never knew it. Posterity may now come to be acquainted with the likeness of his mortality, without prejudice to the immortality of his works.

Soon after Turner's death, there appeared in the shop

windows a sketch by Count d'Orsay, taken at an evening party, at Mr. Bicknell's, of Clapham, which Mr. Leslie considers "most execrable."

Mr. Peter Cunningham describes Turner as "short, stout, and bandy-legged, with a red, pimply face, imperious and covetous eyes, and a tongue which expressed his sentiments with a murmuring reluctance. Sir William Allan was accustomed to describe him as a Dutch skipper. His hands were very small, and owing to the long cuffs to his coats, only his fingers were seen. His look was anything but that of a man of genius."

But a second glance would find far more in his face than belongs to any ordinary mind. There was a peculiar keenness of expression in his eye, which denoted constant habits of observation. His voice was deep and musical, but he was a confused and tedious speaker. He was very joyous at table, and was very apt at repartee. He was a social man in his nature; and Mr. Leslie considers the recluse manner in which he lived to have arisen from his strong wish to have his time entirely at his command. We are inclined to agree with the writer; had it not been for his "recluse manner," Turner would, most probably, have proved a very inferior artist. The world are strangely inconsiderate, not to say dishonest, as regards the time of artists and professional persons generally: being fitted to shine in society, their "valuable time" is too often filched away by a description of persons who are the first to throw up their hands and eyes at the failings of a man of genius!

TURNER ON VARNISHING DAYS.

"Turner, (says Mr. Leslie,) was very amusing on varnishing, or rather, the painting, days at the Academy. Singular as were his habits, for nobody knew where or how he lived, his nature was social, and at our lunch on those anniversaries, he was the life of the table. The Academy has relinquished, very justly, a privilege for its members which it could not extend to all exhibitors. But I believe, had the varnishing days been abolished while Turner lived, it would almost have broken his heart. When such a measure was hinted to him, he said, 'Then you will do away with the only social meetings we have, the only occasions on which we all come together in an easy unrestrained manner. When we have no varnishing days, we shall not know one another.'"