A Turner Bibliography
The list which follows is a select bibliography chosen from the vast body of literature on Turner.
With a few exceptions, more general and introductory works are omitted, as are many catalogues of exhibitions, especially those which provided general overviews of the artist.
Between 1982 and 1993 the journal Turner Studies (published by the Tate) carried many important articles on Turner. Others have appeared, and continue to appear, elsewhere, notably in Turner Society News.
Reference Works
Evelyn Joll, Martin Butlin and Luke Herrmann (ed.), The Oxford Companion to J.M.W. Turner, 2001 (a Turner encyclopedia)*
Martin Butlin and Evelyn Joll, The Paintings of J.M.W. Turner, 1977; revised 1984 (the catalogue raisonné of Turner’s oil paintings)*
Andrew Wilton, The Life and Work of J.M.W. Turner, 1979 (including the first methodical listing of Turner’s finished watercolours)*
A.J. Finberg, A Complete Inventory of the Drawings of the Turner Bequest, 1909 (once the chief guide to the works on paper in the Turner Bequest, currently being superseded by the Tate on-line catalogue)
W.G. Rawlinson, The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, R.A. (1908-13) (the catalogue of the prints engraved after Turner)
W.G. Rawlinson, Turner’s Liber Studiorum: A Description and a Catalogue, 1878; revised 1906 (on Turner’s artistic manifesto, issued as a series of prints)
A.J. Finberg, J.M.W. Turner’s Liber Studiorum, with a Catalogue Raisonné, 1924
Gillian Forrester, Turner’s ‘Drawing Book’: The Liber Studiorum, 1996
* Each of these works contains its own extensive bibliography
Public Collections
Luke Herrmann, Ruskin and Turner: Turner Drawings in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, 1968
Malcolm Cormack, Turner Drawings and Watercolours in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1975
Craig Hartley, Turner Watercolours in the Whitworth Art Gallery, 1984
Frank Milner, J.M.W. Turner: Paintings in Merseyside Collections, 1990
Martin F. Krause, Turner in Indianapolis, 1997
Kim Sloan, J.M.W. Turner: Watercolours from the R.W. Lloyd Bequest to the British Museum, 1998
Christopher Baker, J.M.W. Turner: The Vaughan Bequest, 2006
Joanna Selborne with Andrew Wilton and Cecilia Powell, Paths to Fame: Turner Watercolours from The Courtauld, 2008
Anne Hodge and Niamh MacNally, The Works of J.M.W. Turner at the National Gallery of Ireland, revised edition 2017
Biography and General Studies
A.J. Finberg, The Life of J.M.W. Turner, R.A., 1939; revised 1961
John Gage, Collected Correspondence of J.M.W. Turner, 1980; supplementary letters were published in Turner Studies 6.1, 1986
Andrew Wilton, Turner in his Time, 1987; revised 2006
John Gage, J.M.W. Turner: ‘A Wonderful Range of Mind’, 1987
Eric Shanes, Turner: The Masterworks, 1990; revised as Turner: The Master Painter, 1992; revised as Turner: The Life and Masterworks, 2004
Anthony Bailey, Standing in the Sun: A Life of J.M.W. Turner, 1997
James Hamilton, Turner: A Life, 1997
Eric Shanes, Turner: The Great Watercolours, 2000
Barry Venning, Turner, 2003
Sam Smiles, The Turner Book, 2006
Ian Warrell (ed.), J.M.W. Turner, 2007
Eric Shanes, Young Mr Turner, 2016
Franny Moyle, The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of J.M.W. Turner, 2016
Materials, Techniques and Processes
John Gage, Colour in Turner: Poetry and Truth, 1969
Peter Bower, Turner’s Papers 1787–1820, 1990
Maurice Davies, Turner as Professor: The Artist and Linear Perspective, 1992
Joyce Townsend, Turner’s Painting Techniques, 1993
Eric Shanes, Turner’s Watercolour Explorations 1810–1842, 1997
Peter Bower, Turner’s Later Papers 1821–1851, 1999
John Gage, the chapter on Turner in Colour and Meaning: Art, Science and Symbolism, 1999
Andrew Wilton, Turner as Draughtsman, 2006
Nicola Moorby and Ian Warrell (ed.), How to Paint like Turner, 2010
Michael Rosenthal and Anne Lyles, Turner and Constable: Sketching from Nature, 2013
Ian Warrell, Turner’s Sketchbooks, 2014
Ian Warrell, Alexandra Loske et al., Turner et la Couleur, 2016
Joyce H. Townsend (with Tony Smibert), How Turner Painted: Materials & Techniques, 2019
Turner’s Britain
Eric Shanes, Turner’s Picturesque Views in England and Wales, 1979
Gerald Finley, Landscapes of Memory: Turner as Illustrator of Scott, 1980
David Hill, Turner in Yorkshire, 1980
Francina Irwin and Andrew Wilton, Turner in Scotland, 1982
David Hill, In Turner’s Footsteps: Through the Hills and Dales of Northern England, 1984
Eric Shanes, Turner’s Rivers, Harbours and Coasts, 1984
Andrew Wilton, Turner in Wales, 1984
Martin Butlin, Mollie Luther and Ian Warrell, Turner at Petworth, 1989
Eric Shanes, Turner’s England, 1990
David Hill, Turner on the Thames, 1993
David Hill, Turner in the North, 1996
Eric Shanes, Turner in 1066 Country, 1998
Katrina Thompson, Turner and Sir Walter Scott, 1999
Colin Harrison, Turner’s Oxford, 2000
Christopher Rowell, Ian Warrell and David Blayney Brown, Turner at Petworth, 2002
James Hamilton, Turner’s Britain, 2003
David Blayney Brown and Sam Smiles, Light into Colour: Turner in the South West, 2006
Emma House et al., Turner: Tours of Durham and Richmondshire, 2006
David Blayney Brown et al., Coasting: Turner and Bonington on the Shores of the Channel, 2008
Diana Cook and Dorothy Kirk, Turner in the Tamar Valley, 2009
Catherine Parry-Wingfield, J.M.W. Turner, R.A., The Artist and his House at Twickenham, 2012
Emma House et al., Rokeby: Poetry and Landscape: Walter Scott and Turner in Teesdale, 2013
Andrew Loukes, Turner’s Sussex, 2013
Ian Warrell, Turner’s Wessex, 2015
Helen Cobby, The Young Turner: Ambitions in Architecture and the Art of Perspective, 2018
Turner Abroad
Andrew Wilton and John Russell, Turner in Switzerland, 1976
Andrew Wilton, Turner Abroad: France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, 1982
Lindsay Stainton, Turner’s Venice, 1985
Cecilia Powell, Turner in the South: Rome, Naples, Florence, 1987
Cecilia Powell, Turner’s Rivers of Europe: The Rhine, Meuse and Mosel, 1991
David Hill, Turner in the Alps, 1992
A.G.H. Bachrach, Turner’s Holland, 1994
Cecilia Powell, Turner in Germany, 1995
Ian Warrell, Through Switzerland with Turner, 1995
Ian Warrell, Turner on the Loire, 1997
David Blayney Brown, Turner in the Alps, 1802, 1998
Cecilia Powell, Italy in the Age of Turner, 1998
Ian Warrell, Turner on the Seine, 1999
David Hill, Joseph Mallord William Turner: Le Mont-Blanc et la Vallée d’Aoste, 2000
Ian Warrell, Turner and Venice, 2003
James Hamilton, Turner and Italy, 2008
David Blayney Brown (intro), J.M.W. Turner: The ‘Lucerne’ Sketchbook, 2018
David Blayney Brown, Cees Nooteboom, Fanni Fetzer and Beat Wismer, Turner. The Sea and the Alps, 2019
Ian Warrell, Venice with Turner, 2020
Science, Industry and Technology
John Gage, Turner: Rain, Steam and Speed, 1972
Judy Egerton, Turner: The Fighting Temeraire, 1995
William S. Rodner, J.M.W. Turner: Romantic Painter of the Industrial Revolution, 1997
James Hamilton, Turner and the Scientists, 1998
David Hill, Turner and Leeds: Images of Industry, 2008
Turner and Other Artists
Robert Hewison, Ian Warrell and Stephen Wildman, Ruskin, Turner and the Pre-Raphaelites, 2000
Katharine Lochnan et al., Turner Whistler Monet, 2004
Helen Dorey, John Soane & J M W Turner: Illuminating a Friendship, 2007
David Solkin et al., Turner and the Masters, 2009
Jeremy Lewison, Turner Monet Twombly: Later Paintings, 2011
Ian Warrell et al., Turner Inspired: In the Light of Claude, 2012
Further Thematic Treatments
Andrew Wilton, Turner and the Sublime, 1980
Gerald Finley, Turner and George IV in Edinburgh, 1822, 1981
Luke Herrmann, Turner Prints: The Engraved Work of J.M.W. Turner, 1990
Kathleen Nicholson, Turner’s Classical Landscapes: Myth and Meaning, 1990
Eric Shanes, Turner’s Human Landscape, 1990
Andrew Wilton, Painting and Poetry: Turner’s ‘Verse Book’ and his Work of 1804–12, 1990
David Blayney Brown, Turner and Byron, 1992
Jan Piggott, Turner’s Vignettes, 1994
Gerald Finley, Angel in the Sun: Turner’s Vision of History, 1999
James Hamilton, Turner: The Late Seascapes, 2003
Sam Smiles, J.M.W. Turner: The Making of a Modern Artist, 2007
Ortrud Westheider and Michael Philipp (ed.), Turner and the Elements, 2011
Leo Costello, J.M.W. Turner and the Subject of History, 2012
Ian Warrell, Turner’s Secret Sketches, 2012
Christine Riding, Richard Johns et al., Turner and the Sea, 2013
David Blayney Brown, Amy Concannon and Sam Smiles, Late Turner: Painting Set Free, 2014
David Blayney Brown (intro), J.M.W. Turner: The ‘Skies’ Sketchbook, 2016
Susan Grace Galassi, Ian Warrell, Joanna Sheers Seidenstein et al., Turner’s Modern and Ancient Ports: Passages through Time, 2017
Nicholas R. Bell (ed.), Conversations with Turner. The Watercolors, 2019
David Blayney Brown, Amy Concannon, James Finch and Sam Smiles, Turner’s Modern World, 2020
Sam Smiles, The Late Works of J.M.W. Turner. The Artist and his Critics, 2020
