Sir Lawrence Gowing, Paul Mellon Distinguished Fellow Lecture 1986, Part III

Sir Lawrence Gowing gives a three part lecture at Skowhegan as the Paul Mellon Fellow at Skowhegan where he talks about the painting practice of J.M.W. Turner also reflects on Italian Renaissance and Baroque Paintings. Gowing tells the participants that Turner is the kind of artist who is constantly seeking classic equilibrium in his paintings: the landscape, motifs such as the bridge, and darkening silhouettes of his use of colour. his friendships with other artists and the artists who influenced him, and his various travels. Gowing also talks about Turner’s new ideal in landscape and how he confronted the desolate peaks of natural sublimity as a way to look straight into the void of the 18th century. The second part of his lecture focuses on the practice of John Constable and other artists from the 16th-20th centuries ranging from William Hogarth, Alexander Cozens, and Francis Bacon, to name a few.