Turner's Gallery

'I have seen Turner several times - and have been in that wonderful old house - where the old woman with her head wrapped up in dirty flannel used to open the door, .and where on faded walls hardly weather tight - and among bits of old furniture thick with dust like a place that has been forsaken for years, were those brilliant pictures all glowing with sunshine and colour...'
Letter from Lady Trevelyan to Dr John Brown, 7 October, ?1852

Lady Trevelyan is describing a visit to the house in the West End of London, where Turner not only lived and worked but also built a gallery in which he exhibited his paintings. For the first time, you can now experience what it might have been like to visit Turner's Gallery, by entering our 3D recreation. (Please be patient as this panorama may take a while to load.)

Turner altered his house and gallery several times, but we know most about what it looked like in his later life. This 3D recreation is based on research carried out by Dr Selby Whittingham.

View towards doorway Turner's Gallery; the Artist Showing his Work about 1852    George Jones © The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

View from doorway Turner's Coffin in his Gallery about 1852    George Jones © The Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

These two small oil paintings by George Jones are the only known records of what Turner's gallery looked like. Turner did not allow anyone to draw or make copies in his gallery, so Jones painted these two views from memory.

The gallery measured about nineteen by fifteen feet, with red walls, a fireplace, and a central skylight. The natural light from above was diffused in a makeshift way, by nets covered with tissue paper and hung across the ceiling. The paintings were shown close together on the walls, though some of them just stood on the floor. Like many artists, Turner was often furious about the way his paintings were displayed at the Royal Academy exhibitions. In his own gallery he could control the way his work was seen and, as Lady Trevelyan explains, for visitors the experience was often a revelation...