Turner and the Masters

This wasn't quite what I expected, but then, I associate Turner more with his later "impressionistic" works than with the more figurative works on show here. Seeing paintings where the emphasis is on the people within them seems very odd indeed. They aren't bad but they are nowhere near as interesting as his landscape and maritime subjects, though they invariably compare favourably with the work of contemporaries. Elsewhere it's interesting to contrast say Canaletto's Venetian paintings with Turner's. The clear lines and almost photographic detail of one against the looser brushwork and brighter light of the other. The brushwork is also noticeably different when contrasting Ruisdael's seascapes with Turner's. Rembrandt though still emerges in a class of his own. The Limekiln is indeed a beautiful little painting, attempting to match the Master's use of a small pocket of light in an area of darkness but it doesn't make any advance on Rembrandt's Landscape with the Rest on the Flight in to Egypt. The final rooms are where you fully appreciate the experimentalism of Turner. The blinding light emanating from the centre of the Regulus canvas is truly breathtaking, and, my favourite in the exhibition, Snow Storm captures the overpowering sense of the elements as the steamboat is barely discernible in the maelstrom of paint surrounding it.