JMW Turner

Both Turner and Constable painted pictures of the Chain Pier in Brighton. Built in 1823, it was a new structure in 1828 and was a symbol of Brighton’s modernity, bustling trade and tourism. Turner painted this version for the Earl of Egremont for his home at Petworth, Sussex.

• Artist JMW Turner
• Artwork The Chain Pier, Brighton
• Image size 71 x 136.5 cm
• Date of work c1828
• Credit Oil paint on canvas 71 x 136.5 cm

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.