Art of Turner admired Claude

Joseph Mallord William Turner

Of all the Old Masters, Turner admired Claude the most, enthusing about the quality of light in the artist's Italian landscapes.

On his death, Turner left the National Gallery two paintings – 'Dido building Carthage' and 'Sun rising through Vapour'. He made the gift in his will on condition that the works were hung between two pictures by Claude, which he named as 'The Seaport' ('Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba') and 'The Mill' ('Landscape with the Marriage of Isaac and Rebecca').


This exhibition brings together other closely related works by Turner and Claude. Many of these paintings share the same theme, giving visitors a chance to fully appreciate the enormous influence of Claude's mastery of light and landscape on Turner – from his formative years until the end of his life.


Turner Inspired: In the Light of Claude is the most in-depth examination of Turner's experience of Claude's art to date.


The exhibition includes oils, watercolours and sketchbooks and introduces visitors to the story of the Turner Bequest and its importance in the history of the National Gallery. The final room of the show exhibits archive material dedicated to this relationship.

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Da Vinci Painter at the Court of Milan

Leonardo da Vinci: Painter at the Court of Milan’ is the most complete display of Leonardo’s rare surviving paintings ever held. This unprecedented exhibition – the first of its kind anywhere in the world – brings together sensational international loans never before seen at the National Gallery in the UK.


Leonardo the artist


While numerous exhibitions have looked at Leonardo da Vinci as an inventor, scientist or draughtsman, this is the first to be dedicated to his aims and techniques as a painter. Inspired by the recently restored National Gallery painting, The Virgin of the Rocks, this exhibition focuses on Leonardo as an artist. In particular it concentrates on the work he produced as court painter to Duke Lodovico Sforza in Milan in the late 1480s and 1490s.


As a painter, Leonardo aimed to convince viewers of the reality of what they were seeing while still aspiring to create ideals of beauty – particularly in his exquisite portraits – and, in his religious works, to convey a sense of awe-inspiring mystery.

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