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    Collection   Turner Collection

JMW Turner, Norham Castle, Sunrise, circa 1845 JMW Turner, Norham Castle, Sunrise, circa 1845

In 1856, nearly five years after Turner’s death, his estate was settled by a decree in which the works found in his studio that were considered to be by his own hand were accepted by the nation as the ‘Turner Bequest’. This comprises nearly 300 oil paintings and around 30,000 sketches and watercolours (including 300 sketchbooks), with a small number of collaborations and works since identified as by other artists.

The Bequest forms the great majority of the works by Turner in the Tate, but there are also a small number of works which have been acquired independently, including the Vaughan Bequest. A group of nine paintings from the Bequest is retained at the National Gallery to show Turner's work in a broader international context. Tate has also been working in partnership with a range of other collections to create a complete catalogue of Turner Worldwide.

Turner's Travels Tate's Turner Highlights Discover Turner Worldwide


You can also explore the following types of work by Turner:

For more information on Turner you can read a biography, view a timeline, explore a 3D reconstruction of Turner's Gallery and read comments about the artist and his work from a wide range of historic and contemporary figures.