JMW Turner

Turner's view is of the Giudecca Canal in Venice towards Fusina on the mainland. The spiritual stillness of the river is occupied with gondolas, brightened by the sky above. The town and cities at the sides are faint and not the focus.

• Artist JMW Turner
• Artwork San Benedetto, Looking towards Fusina
• Image size 62.2 x 92.7 cm
• Material Oil on canvas
• Date of work 1843
• Credit Original: Oil on canvas 62.2 x 92.7 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 S22621