Turner in the ambient light

British watercolour master’s exhibition is on through January, says Des O’Sullivan

A LIGHT in the Darkness is the title of this year’s annual Turner exhibition at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin until January 31. The gallery’s collection of Turner Watercolours are only displayed in January when the ambient light is at its most gentle. Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851), a renowned painter of the effects of light long before Impressionism, is regarded as one of the greatest masters of the British watercolour.

The watercolours from the Vaughan Bequest, which came to the gallery in 1900, feature many works painted during his European travels. Henry Vaughan was an English collector and his bequest constituted 31 watercolours. The gallery has added to the collection over the years and now holds 36 works by Turner in pristine condition. This year the exhibition is complemented by a display of silhouettes and miniatures from the Mary A McNeill Bequest (1985), which includes works by John Comerford, Richard Crosse, Henry Bone and Nathaniel Hone the Elder.