Overview

Born just fourteen months apart, one in London and the other in rural Suffolk, J.M.W. Turner and John Constable went on to change the face of British art. The two men have routinely been seen as polar opposites, not least by their peers. Differing in temperament, background, beliefs and vision, they created images as dissimilar as their personalities. Yet in many ways they were fellow travellers. As children of the late 18 th century, both faced the same challenges and opportunities. Above all, they shared common cause as champions of a distinctively British art. Through their work, they fought for the recognition and appreciation of landscape painting – and in doing so ensured their reputations were forever intertwined and interlinked. Nicola Moorby offers us a fresh perspective on two extraordinary artists, uncovering the layers of fiction that have embellished and disguised their greatest achievements. For Turner & Constable is not just a tale of two artists; it is also the story of the triumph of landscape painting.

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Reviews

“Highly enjoyable and sharply written. . . . Moorby sets out to examine the artists ‘side by side instead of face to face’ and helps us to see them in a refreshingly new light.”—Bendor Grosvenor, Times (UK) “Sorting fact from fiction, Moorby offers a fresh perspective on [Turner and Constable’s] careers while simultaneously charting the triumph of British landscape painting in the 18th century.”—Christie’s “[A] full and perceptive study of two great artists.”—Robin Simon, Literary Review “[Moorby’s] approach, which allows each artist’s work to be illuminated in terms of the other, provides a way of addressing what really matters in any artist’s life story: the work they leave behind.”—Ben Street, Times Literary Supplement “Moorby perceptively traces two mutually informative lives and careers, which have been followed individually many times before but never so fully in parallel.”—Andrew Loukes, Art Newspaper “Moorby fuses diverse perspectives in order to preserve the thrill of hagiography without sacrificing integrity to sensationalist accounts.”—Ella Nixon, The Critic “By peeling back the layers of fiction that surround their achievements, [Moorby] offers a fresh look at their careers throughout the late 1700s and 1800s and charts the rise of landscape painting for which they are best known.”—Alice Henderson, Business Traveller “A pleasure to read . . . and will appeal both to the average intelligent reader and the art expert.”—Bernard Richards, Oxford Magazine

“Highly enjoyable and sharply written. . . . Moorby sets out to examine the artists ‘side by side instead of face to face’ and helps us to see them in a refreshingly new light.”—Bendor Grosvenor, Times (UK) “Sorting fact from fiction, Moorby offers a fresh perspective on [Turner and Constable’s] careers while simultaneously charting the triumph of British landscape painting in the 18th century.”—Christie’s “[A] full and perceptive study of two great artists.”—Robin Simon, Literary Review “[Moorby’s] approach, which allows each artist’s work to be illuminated in terms of the other, provides a way of addressing what really matters in any artist’s life story: the work they leave behind.”—Ben Street, Times Literary Supplement “Moorby fuses diverse perspectives in order to preserve the thrill of hagiography without sacrificing integrity to sensationalist accounts.”—Ella Nixon, The Critic

Author Information

Nicola Moorby is an independent art historian and curator specialising in British art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, particularly J. M. W. Turner, British watercolour, and early British modernism.

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