The Rebel Angel
'Art takes after truth in vain.' So said Britain's greatest painter. He gave his work to the nation so that it could be judged as a whole -not only the famous paintings which he exhibited at the Royal Academy or sold to his clients, but also the thousands of sketches and watercolours which he had kept to himself.
On the eve of the bi-centenary of his birth, this film celebrates the diversity of his talents by bringing together works great and small, which illustrate the perception of one of the keenest pair of eyes in Europe. Turner surveyed the awe-inspiring wonders of European landscape and saw in every image he made both a reflection of his soul and omens of human destiny. It was his hope that posterity would recognise his genius. The immense success of the Turner exhibition at the Royal Academy attended by nearly half-a-million people suggests it has.
Narrator FRANK DUNCAN
Rostrum camera KEN MORSE
Film cameraman EUGENE CARR Film editor TERRY CORNELIUS
Written and produced by JOHN READ
Canvassing for Turner: see feature pages