JMW Turner

Turner's moon-lit night piece is of the River Thames in London, from a position near that of Tate Britain. The boats and buildings are darkened shapes amongst a dark blue and purple sky.

• Artist JMW Turner
• Artwork Moonlight, a Study at Millbank
• Image size 31.4 x 40.3 cm
• Material Oil on mahogany panel
• Date of work 1797
• Credit Original: Oil on mahogany panel 31.4 x 40.3 cm ® Tate, London

Joseph Mallord William Turner was born in London; he remained a Londoner and kept a Cockney accent all his life despite dominating British landscape painting throughout the first half of the 19th century. He established a reputation in the Royal Academy, first as a topographical watercolourist and then within a few years as a painter of sublime and historical landscapes. From the mid-1790s he settled on the routine he maintained for much of his life: touring in summer and working in the studio in the winter months. He opened his own gallery and had many patrons and admirers as well as detractors. After his death a large body of his works in oil and watercolour was given to the British nation, with many on show at Tate Britain.

• Product Code S22708