Turner’s Kingdom: Beauty, Birds and Beasts

For the first time in almost forty years, rarely seen bird studies will form the star attraction of the first exhibition in a generation devoted to animals and birds painted by J.M.W. Turner.

Feathers, fins and fur are not subject matter usually associated with Britain’s greatest landscape painter, but Turner was enchanted by the colours and characters of creatures he encountered during his lifetime. Featuring around fifteen loans from British public collections, Turner’s Kingdom: Beauty, Birds and Beasts brings together a menagerie of birds, fish and animals, from domestic pets to wildlife seen in the countryside. Displayed within the intimate, domestic space of his house, they uncover a little-known, personal side to the notoriously secretive artist.