Turner and Constable: Art, Life, Landscape [Hardcover]

Born just fourteen months apart, one in London and the other in rural Suffolk, J. M. W. Turner and John Constable went on to change the face of British art
 
The two men have routinely been seen as polar opposites, not least by their peers. Differing in temperament, background, beliefs, and vision, they created images as dissimilar as their personalities.
 
Yet in many ways they were fellow travellers. As children of the late eighteenth century, both faced the same challenges and opportunities. Above all, they shared common cause as champions of a distinctively British art. Through their work, they fought for the recognition and appreciation of landscape painting—and in doing so ensured their reputations were forever intertwined and interlinked.
 
Nicola Moorby offers us a fresh perspective on two extraordinary artists, uncovering the layers of fiction that have embellished and disguised their greatest achievements. ForTurner & Constableis not just a tale of two artists; it is also the story of the triumph of landscape painting.Spirited and absorbing. . . . Dispel[s] myths and show[s] how the two artists defined and played off against each other.Jenny Uglow,New York Review of Books

AnArt NewspaperBook of the Year 2025

“[Moorby’s] approach, which allows each artist’s work to be illuminated in terms of the other, provides a way of addressing what really matters in any artist’s life story: the work they leave behind.”—Ben Street,Times Literary Supplement

Moorby astutely explores the parallels in [Turner and Constables] practices, highlighting how both men furthered British landscape painting.Gareth Harris,Art Newspaper

“Highly enjoyable and sharply written. . . . Moorby sets out to examine the artists ‘side by side instead of face to face’ and helps us to see them in a rlƒ¿