Of interest to an art enthusiast, this book is both a practical manual for discovering and understanding the artist, J M W Turner, and a guide to his life and work. It examines in detail key works and the techniques by which Turner realised them and features revealing extracts from his notebooks, travel journals and poetry.

J.M.W. Turner was a fascinating and enigmatic figure. Both astonishingly prolific and extraordinarily innovative, he is widely seen as the greatest British landscape painter of them all, anticipating and surpassing the Impressionists in his dramatic interpretations of the effects of light and colour. "The Turner Book" goes beyond the usual interpretations of the artist, revealing the extraordinary self-belief and ambition that allowed him to continue steadfastly with his experimentation in the face of hostile critical attack. The book examines in detail key works and the techniques by which Turner realised them and features revealing extracts from his notebooks, travel journals and poetry. Beautifully illustrated with both famous and unknown works and ranging over the entire course of the artist's career, this is the essential guide to Turner's life and work. Sam Smiles is Professor of Art History at the University of Plymouth at Exeter and the author of numerous acclaimed books, including "J.M.W. Turner", "Two-way Traffic: British Art and Italian Art 1880-1980" and "The Image of Antiquity: Ancient Britain and the Romantic Imagination".

1. Turner's Inheritance
2. Making a Reputation
3. The Transigent Artist
4. Ancient and Modern
5. Witnessing the Age
6. Turner's Place in History
7. Turner's Writings
8. Critical Writings
9. Technique
10. List of Public Collections
11. Chronology
12. Bibliography.