Please keep an eye on this page for upcoming events and activities

2021 activities:

• July: Friends of Turner’s House AGM to be held on Wednesday 21^stJuly at 6pm via Zoom followed by an online lecture by Colin Reed titled Turner’s Pic-Nic Academical Club – A Mystery Resolved. Please note that this event is only open to current members of the Friends of Turner’s House. For further information, please contact the Membership Secretary of the Friends at friends@turnershouse.org.

February: Professor Sam Smiles gave a lecture via Zoom titled Turner in the 1840s, based on his latest book, The Late Works of J.M.W. Turner – the Artist and his Critics. 

2020 activities included:

• January: visit to the Bank of England for the launch of the new £20 pound note featuring Turner, offered exclusively to Friends of Turner’s House and members of the Turner Society
• January: Friends had the opportunity to attend a private view with free entry of Turner and The Thames exhibition before it opened to the public
• February: guided walk from Mansion House to Smithfield viewing sites associated with Charles Dickens
• March: visit to the National Portrait Gallery’s Heinz Archive for a talk and special viewing of George Dance’s series of drawings of Royal Academicians
• June: Catherine Parry-Wingfield gave a talk on Zoom titled Shopping for Sandycombe
• November: AGM via Zoom followed by a talk by Ricky Pound, House Director, entitled John Soane and his Architectural Influences at Turner’s House

Unfortunately, other events organised for 2020 had to be cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

2019 activities included:

• March: the Friends welcomed Nick Powell, Secretary of the Turner Society, who gave a lecture on Turner’s Titles
• July: guided visit to Pitzhanger Manor in Ealing, the recently restored country home of Sir John Soane
• July: AGM and summer party at York House, Twickenham
• October: David Bowman of Bowman Gallery Richmond gave a talk and demonstration on the history, technique and craft of the art of gilding, focusing on conservation of items including picture frames and furniture, and the use of gilding on Hollywood film sets
• December: Friends’ Christmas party, an opportunity to meet old and new Friends before the holidays

The following organisations all have links to J.M.W. Turner, his house and his works of art

The Turner Society is for all who admire and are interested in Turner and his work. Regular meetings take place in London and visits are arranged to exhibitions and collections relating to Turner. Members receive an illustrated magazine twice yearly.   www.turnersociety.com

Tate Britain houses the Turner bequest, works of art which Turner bequeathed to the nation.  The Clore Wing displays many of his major oil paintings. Works on paper can be seen by appointment with the Prints and Drawings Room.

www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-britain/prints-and-drawings-room

The entire Turner bequest is also available to view online  www.tate.org.uk

Some key works from the bequest, including Turner’s Fighting Temeraire, Rain, Steam and Speed,  Dido Building Carthage and Sun Rising through Vapour are displayed at the National Gallery.

www.nationalgallery.org.uk

The Sir John Soane Museum is the London house of the architect Sir John Soane, a great friend of Turner. Soane’s influence on Turner’s design for Sandycombe can clearly be seen here.  Soane’s large collection includes Turner’s Admiral van Tromp’s barge at the mouth of the Texel, 1645. www.soane.org

Pitzhanger Manor   Sir John Soane’s country house at Ealing, often visited by Turner.  Pitzhanger has recently undergone extensive conservation. Soane bought the house in 1800 and immediately set about constructing a building to house his art and antiquities collection. His friend and fellow Professor at the Royal Academy, J.M.W. Turner, was a frequent guest and both would regularly go fishing and entertain each other and their close circle of friends at their houses. To visit Pitzhanger from Turner’s House, walk, bus or take a train to Richmond station and then take the 65 bus to Pitzhanger Manor.

www.pitzhanger.org.uk