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    J.M.W. Turner: Ackroyd's Brief Lives
    Unavailable
    J.M.W. Turner: Ackroyd's Brief Lives
    Unavailable
    J.M.W. Turner: Ackroyd's Brief Lives
    Audiobook4 hours

    J.M.W. Turner: Ackroyd's Brief Lives

    Written by Peter Ackroyd

    Narrated by Nicholas Guy Smith

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this audiobook

    In this second volume in the Ackroyd's Brief Lives series, bestselling author Peter Ackroyd brings us a man of humble beginnings, crude manners, and prodigious talents, the nineteenth-century painter J. M. W. Turner.

    Joseph Mallord William Turner was born in London in 1775. His father was a barber, and his mother came from a family of London butchers. "His speech was recognizably that of a Cockney, and his language was the language of the streets." As his finest paintings show, his language was also the language of light. Turner's landscapes-extraordinary studies in light, colour, and texture-caused an uproar during his lifetime and earned him a place as one of the greatest artists in history.

    Displaying his artistic abilities as a young child, Turner entered the Royal Academy of Arts when he was just fourteen years old. A year later his paintings appeared in an important public exhibition, and he rapidly achieved prominence, becoming a Royal Academician in 1802 and Professor of Perspective at the Academy from 1807-1837. His private life, however, was less orderly. Never married, he spent much time living in taverns, where he was well known for his truculence and his stinginess with money.

    Peter Ackroyd deftly follows Turner's first loves of architecture, engraving, and watercolours, and the country houses, cathedrals, and landscapes of England. While his passion for Italy led him to oil painting, Turner's love for London remained central to his heart and soul, and it was within sight of his beloved Thames that he died in 1851. His dying words were: "The sun is God."

    Also available in ACKROYD'S BRIEF LIVES
    Chaucer
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPenguin Random House Audio
    Release dateOct 21, 2014
    ISBN9781101912799
    Unavailable
    J.M.W. Turner: Ackroyd's Brief Lives
    Author

    Peter Ackroyd

    Peter Ackroyd is an award-winning novelist, as well as a broadcaster, biographer, poet and historian. He is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction bestsellers, Thames: Sacred River and London: The Biography, as well as the History of England series. He holds a CBE for services to literature and lives in London.

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    Reviews for J.M.W. Turner

    3.5/5

    21 ratings2 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Turner's art fascinates me, I have a screensaver that is simply a slide show of some of his oils and watercolors, but I knew nothing about him. Now I know a lot, Ackroyd has done it again! I am getting addicted to his brief lives biographies.
    • 3/5
      I resolved that in 2006 I would read some non-fiction. This was my opener. A concise biography (182 pages) of my favourite artist with some interesting anecdotes. Just the right length to give me a quick overview.