View of Farnley Hall in Yorkshire

Unknown artist

The house of Turner’s friend, the collector Walter Fawkes, is depicted in the distance of this watercolour. It is a free interpretation of reality, dominated by atmospheric light effects. Turner did not paint watercolours of this kind out of doors, but based them on drawn studies of nature. In his studio, he would first make a schematic colour sketch of the composition before actually beginning to paint a watercolour.