JMW Turner was a complex, commited, one might say, driven artist. I've read the James Hamilton Biography, a brilliant book. However this book shows us yet more aspects and character of the enigmatic Mr Turner. For many, one assumed that JMW Turner RA, was a man of some respectable great background, but nothing could be further from the truth. The Royal Academician rose from humble cockney origins with a gift that transformed his life and the history of art. Turner paved the way towards impressionism, but here is a study of how that human story came to be. A fascinating study into the Georgian period as much as the man himself.

The book started with death. It is the first biography I have read that starts this way. Turner was a complicated person who knew what he wanted and set out to get it. so many things that I never knew about him are revealed, and he was a genius. I could not put it down once I had started reading, and it is very well written.