Newsletter June 2020
Welcome to the June newsletter!
The sun is out and we are looking forward to welcoming you back to Turner’s House and garden!
And very positive news arrived this week with the Government stating that from 4 July galleries and museums can reopen. In order to prepare for re-opening we have been busy producing risk assessments and purchasing personal protective equipment in order to make the house as safe as possible for our volunteers, staff and visitors as their health, safety and welfare is our number one priority! We are working on the re-opening date when we can welcome you back to the house. I will keep you posted!
June’s Zooms: Circle Conversation with Franny Moyle and Friends Talk by Catherine Parry-Wingfield
On Tuesday 23 June Catherine Parry-Wingfield gave an interesting and entertaining talk by Zoom on “Shopping for Sandycombe” for fifty of the Friends of Turners House. On the call Viscountess Dunrossil, Acting Chair of the Friends, announced that they had made a £4,000 contribution to Turner’s House Trust. Thank you!
On Thursday 27 June, author and trustee of Turner‘s House, Franny Moyle, led a fascinating and thoughtful conversation with Turner’s House Patrons, Sandycombe and Supporters Circles members on four of J.M.W. Turner’s paintings. This exclusive Zoom conversation was very well received. Feedback included: “I loved it” “a very interesting mix of fact, interpretation and interaction”, “looking forward to the next one”.
On Thursday 16 July at 6pm, Curator Andrew Loukes will be presenting a special Zoom talk to Circle members from Petworth House, exploring the paintings created by J.M.W. Turner for one of his most important patrons, George O’Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont FRS. Petworth House contains nineteen paintings by Turner, the largest private collection in the world. If you would like to join this talk, then there is time. In order to view this lecture please consider becoming a supporter.
There are three tiers of Circle membership. For further details please click here.
J.M.W. Turner Study Day
Thank you for all those who asked to be placed on the booking list for our first Turner’s House study day. Originally planned to take place on 11 June, we sadly have had to postpone this. We are currently looking at dates in the future. Given your feedback including the number of people who wanted to join, we are reviewing whether we host this event online possibly as a series of talks programmed over several successive weeks. If you have any thoughts on this please let me know. As soon as I have further details of this event they will appear here first.
New videos on the Turner’s House YouTube Channel
We have also been busy populating our YouTube channel with interesting content of talks and other events. New content includes a short presentation on European Ceramics and the Willow Pattern and a lovely concert hosted by Lady Panufnik, filmed at her home in Twickenham.
Other presentations will be available in advance to our Circle members. Here is a link to those presently on our YouTube channel And please subscribe as we need more followers!
And exclusive to our Circle members – House Director Ricky Pound’s twenty minute YouTube talk on Sir John Soane and his Architectural Influences on Turner’s House will be available to watch soon.
Do please keep in touch by following Turner’s House on Twitter, Instagram and Face
Summer Solstice at Turner’s House
In its early days Sandycombe Lodge was known as Solus Lodge which can be interpreted as a place of solitude or retreat and a temple of the Sun. Around the time of the summer solstice on 21 June an interesting event happens at Turner‘s House. As the sun passes above the lay light its original painted floral motif gets projected onto the staircase walls beneath. A quirky but fascinating feature!
Turner was also familiar with the Neolithic circle Stonehenge in Wiltshire which he drew and painted several versions of. Turner visited the ancient site on at least two occasions, in 1799 or 1800, and then at the end of his West Country tour of 1811. In 1827 Turner painted the brooding watercolor Stonehenge, Wiltshire which shows a fierce storm moving off across Salisbury Plain, leaving in its wake a shepherd who has been struck dead by lightning.
https://salisburymuseum.org.
Wishing you the very best of health for you and your family,
Turner’s House Trust
June 30, 2020