Romanticism · 1775–1851 · British
J. M. W. Turner
Turner was an early, eager user of new pigments, especially chrome yellow, and his late work dissolves scenes into light and color. Some of his materials were unstable, so a number of his paintings have faded or changed.
Across 8 works, the colors are mostly brown (60%), black (15%) and gray (13%). On average the canvases are mid-toned, moderately saturated and warm. Signature colors, used far more here than across the collection: oatmeal, putty, black, pale sand and light tan.
Color print
The swatches covering most of these canvases, averaged over every work, dark to light.
- MG 172 oatmeal 8.2% of canvas
- MG 173 putty 6.4% of canvas
- MG 223 soot 6.2% of canvas
- MG 180 pale sand 4.6% of canvas
- MG 224 black 3.9% of canvas
- MG 174 warm grey 3.8% of canvas
- MG 171 bone 3.2% of canvas
- MG 181 light sand 3.2% of canvas
- MG 175 stone 3.1% of canvas
- MG 222 charcoal 3.0% of canvas
- MG 183 golden umber 2.8% of canvas
- MG 176 taupe 2.6% of canvas
- MG 164 light tan 2.4% of canvas
- MG 182 golden umber 2.4% of canvas
- MG 215 grey 2.3% of canvas
- MG 190 light golden sand 2.3% of canvas
Measurements
Composition
Averaged over 8 works: 56% of the visual weight in the left half, 55% in the lower half; symmetry 0.37; 56% calm space; half of the detail in 29% of the canvas. Measured from each image, not a rule the painters followed.