Turner

Monkhouse, W. Cosmo (William Cosmo), 1840-1901Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.8

Word count: 242K words
Chapters: 25

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Turner by W. Cosmo MonkhouseAuthor: Monkhouse, W. Cosmo (William Cosmo), 1840-1901,Language: English, Class: ND: Fine Arts: Painting, Release Date: Sep 27, 2012

Editor's review

Monkhouse's Turner is a typical specimen of late nineteenth-century British art writing: short in length, yet attempting within limited space to trace Turner's creative trajectory from apprentice to Royal Academician. The author belongs to the same British cultural lineage as Turner, and his prose carries the solemnity and restraint characteristic of Victorian art criticism, building its arguments not on heaps of data but on an appreciation of the temperament of the pictures and the intentions behind their composition. For today's readers, its value may lie less in how much documentary detail it provides than in showing how an early critic understood Turner's experiments with light and color, which seemed so avant-garde at the time. The language is old-fashioned English, unhurried in pace, suited to slow reading in quiet hours; read alongside an album of reproductions or an online image gallery, it offers more direct visual associations than a biography alone. As a public-domain e-book from Project Gutenberg, it is suitable as supplementary reading for the study of British landscape painting rather than as a first choice for beginners.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in British painting history who wish to understand the context of nineteenth-century art criticism
Enthusiasts who have seen Turner's paintings and hope to understand his style from a historical perspective
Art students with reasonable English reading ability who are willing to read old-fashioned English texts slowly

Not a good fit for

Complete beginners with no exposure to Turner's works who need a systematic introduction to art history
Readers of the reference-book type who want extensive lists of works, chronologies, and documentary data
Readers accustomed to the pace of modern Chinese art writing who have low tolerance for long English sentences

Reading tips

First browse images of Turner's representative works, then read the corresponding chapters to avoid disconnecting text from image.
One or two chapters a day is enough; old-fashioned English long sentences should be read slowly, without chasing speed.
Jot down names of people and places as you go and look them up together afterward, to minimize interruptions.
Read alongside a modern Turner study for comparison, to see how criticism differs across eras.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for readers with zero background in art history?

Not really. The book assumes some familiarity with Turner's life and the British art world, and its language is nineteenth-century English, so readers with no background may be frustrated on both counts. It is advisable to first read an illustrated Chinese introduction to Turner, then return to this book as a supplementary perspective.

What should I keep in mind when reading the e-book?

The Gutenberg edition is mainly plain text with no illustrations, so while reading it is best to open an album or museum website page for side-by-side comparison. Also, the old-fashioned layout and paragraphing differ from modern e-books; an e-reader with adjustable font size is recommended to reduce eye strain.

How does this book differ from modern Turner biographies?

Modern biographies usually rely on more complete archives, letters, and a chronology of works, and are information-dense; this book is closer to a contemporary's record of impressions, focusing on appraising the temperament of the pictures and the intentions behind them, with less documentary rigor. The two are complementary and should not replace each other.

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About the author

Monkhouse, W. Cosmo (William Cosmo), 1840-1901 Author · British · 1840–1901

William Cosmo Monkhouse (1840–1901) was an English poet and art critic. He devoted lasting attention to British art and wrote critical works including British Contemporary Artists. One of his works is held in this collection: Turner, a study of the English painter J. M. W. Turner that belongs to the genre of artist studies. Monkhouse's criticism focuses on introducing and assessing individual painters and their works; his style is clear and plain, aimed at presenting artists' creative character to ordinary readers. Public information about the details of his life is limited. His influence lies mainly in Victorian-era British art criticism and artist biography, offering later readers a useful body of texts for understanding the British art world of his time.