Petworth, Sussex. His splendid sketches of Petworth probably belong to the early 1830s. In the last years of his life, Turner was more famous, richer, and more secretive than ever. After several years of inactivity as professor of perspective at the Royal Academy, he resigned in 1838. In 1839 he bought a cottage in Chelsea, where he lived incognito under the assumed name of Booth. He was looked after by his old housekeeper, who guarded his privacy so zealously that she made it difficult for people to gain admission to his gallery. Turner continued to travel, however. In the last 15 years of his life, he revisited Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and France. Observers have recorded the untiring energy with which he sketched while abroad, and the drawings, numbering about 19,000 in the Turner Bequest, bear witness to this labour. While Turner's earlier paintings and drawings show the most accurate observation of architectural and natural detail, in his later work this is sacrificed to general effects of colour and light with the barest indication of mass. His composition tends to become more fluid, suggesting movement and space; some of his paintings are mere colour notations, barely tinted on a white ground, such as "Norham Castle, Sunrise" and "Sunrise, with a Boat Between Headlands" (1835-45; Tate Gallery). This approach may account for the large number of slightly brushed-in canvases found in Turner's studio at the time of his death. These colourful abstractions are far more appreciated now than the historical and mythological subjects he exhibited. Apart from fanciful reconstructions of ancient Rome and the scintillating Venetian cityscapes, which found ready purchasers in his day, the outstanding examples of his late work are "The Parting of Hero and Leander" (1837; National Gallery), a daring composition of sunset and moonlight with visions of spirits rising from the waters; "The Fighting Tmraire' Tugged to Her...
