On Turner's 1826 journey through Brittany and up the River Loire, he filled several sketchbooks with hasty impressions of famous chateaux. Many of his sketches are identified and reproduced here for the first time, together with all of the justly celebrated watercolors that Turner produced to be engraved in 1833. Turner was at the forefront of an invasion of the Loire region by artists, most of whom were British, as is plain from illustrated examples by contemporaries such as Samuel Prout, William Callow, and Clarkson Stanfield, as well as views by French artists like Delacroix.

Martin Garrett traces the history of the storied Loire River through cities and countryside, from medieval times to the present.

Definitive, concise, and very interesting... From William Shakespeare to Winston Churchill, the Very Interesting People series provides authoritative bite-sized biographies of Britain's most fascinating historical figures - people whose influence and importance have stood the test of time. Each book in the series is based upon the biographical entry from the world-famous Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The Very Interesting People series includes the following titles: 1.William Shakespeare by Peter Holland 2. George Eliot by Rosemary Ashton 3. Charles Dickens by Michael Slater 4. Charles Darwin by Adrian Desmond, James Moore, and Janet Browne 5. Isaac Newton by Richard S.Westfall 6. Elizabeth I by Patrick Collinson 7. George III by John Cannon 8. Benjamin Disraeli by Jonathan Parry 9. Christopher Wren by Kerry Downes 10. John Ruskin by Robert Hewison 11. James Joyce by Bruce Stewart 12. John Milton by Gordon Campbell 13. Jane Austen by Marilyn Butler 14. Henry VIII by Eric Ives 15. Queen Victoria by K. D. Reynolds and H. C. G. Matthew 16. Winston Churchill by Paul Addison 17. Oliver Cromwell by John Morrill 18. Thomas Paine by Mark Philp 19. J. M. W. Turner by Luke Herrmann 20. William and Mary by Tony Claydon and W. A. Speck -

At fifteen, Turner was already exhibiting View of Lambeth. He soon acquired the reputation of an immensely clever watercolourist. A disciple of Girtin and Cozens, he showed in his choice and presentation of theme a picturesque imagination which seemed to mark him out for a brilliant career as an illustrator. He travelled, first in his native land and then on several occasions in France, the Rhine Valley, Switzerland and Italy. He soon began to look beyond illustration. However, even in works in which we are tempted to see only picturesque imagination, there appears his dominant and guiding ideal of lyric landscape. His choice of a single master from the past is an eloquent witness for he studied profoundly such canvases of Claude as he could find in England, copying and imitating them with a marvellous degree of perfection. His cult for the great painter never failed. He desired his Sun Rising through Vapour and Dido Building Carthage to be placed in the National Gallery side by side with two of Claude’s masterpieces. And, there, we may still see them and judge how legitimate was this proud and splendid homage. It was only in 1819 that Turner went to Italy, to go again in 1829 and 1840. Certainly Turner experienced emotions and found subjects for reverie which he later translated in terms of his own genius into symphonies of light and colour. Ardour is tempered with melancholy, as shadow strives with light. Melancholy, even as it appears in the enigmatic and profound creation of Albrecht Dürer, finds no home in Turner’s protean fairyland – what place could it have in a cosmic dream? Humanity does not appear there, except perhaps as stage characters at whom we hardly glance. Turner’s pictures fascinate us and yet we think of nothing precise, nothing human, only unforgettable colours and phantoms that lay hold on our imaginations. Humanity really only inspires him when linked with the idea of death – a strange death, more a lyrical dissolution – like the finale of an opera.

Turner as Draughtsman looks at the artist's practice of drawing in various media (pen, pencil and chalk as well as watercolour and oil paint), an aspect of Turner's work which has hitherto received very little attention. Andrew Wilton shows that, while Turner's art has always been celebrated for its atmospheric breadth and freedom of handling, he based his working procedures throughout his career on the discipline of drawing in outline, which was an essential element in the grand strategy by which he achieved his formidable results. An important section of the book is devoted to the vexed question of Turner's drawing of the human figure, and the crucial role played by the figure both in his conception of landscape and in his ambitious attempts to master all the genres of fashionable contemporary art.

Volume 1-35, works. Volume 36-37, letters. Volume 38 provides an extensive bibliography of Ruskin's writings and a catalogue of his drawings, with corrections to earlier volumes in George Allen's Library Edition of the Works of John Ruskin. Volume 39, general index.

J.M.W. Turner is without a doubt the greatest painter of landscapes and seascapes of all time. His production was prodigious: some 550 oil paintings, more than 2,000 extremely detailed and refined watercolours and nearly 20,000 studies, sketches and watercolour sketches. He excelled in all forms of painting: landscapes or seascapes, elaborate historical representations or classical scenes, miniature and watercolours of scenes of daily life on land and on sea, destined to be reproduced in engravings. The ensemble of Turner’s artwork evokes a particularly rich and dramatic sensibility, an interest for the complexities of life, an unequalled approach of the size and scale of nature, and a profound curiosity to discover what is under the surface – that which the painter calls the intrinsic “qualities and causes” of things. This curiosity leads Turner to explore the universal principles of architecture – whether it is born from nature or by man’s hand −, of light, of meteorology as well as of the dynamic of waves. He was a talented and extremely sophisticated colourist, becoming one of the best in European painting, and without a doubt the most skilled painter in conveying subtleties and nuances. His works, particularly his last works, reflect his projection of an ideal world of colours, forms and impressions.

For Adam Ruck, France and cycling go together like a rich Camembert and a heady glass of Bordeaux.

France's Loire Valley is arguably one of the most romantic places on Earth. Where else can travellers hike a countryside of castles, bicycle to a winery, dine on fine cuisine in a chateau, and camp under the stars? All practical details are covered in this helpful guide. Detailed maps suggest imaginative outings. A special section provides advice on local cuisine and selecting the best of the area's wines. A helpful French language chapter is included.