The Beacon Light J. M. W. Turner . It was given to the National Museum of Wales by the Davies sisters (Gwendoline and Margaret ). For some time it was regarded as a fake, but is now accepted as authentic.
Beacon Light was among a number of works that were said to have been given by Turner to his mistress, Mrs Booth. It was sold at Christie's by her son, John Pound (her son by her first marriage).
In 1922, it was sold as a genuine Turner and the Davies sisters (Gwendoline and Margaret) spent £2,625 to buy it.[ 1] [ 2]
Shortly after the donation, some raised doubts about its authenticity and that of two other Turners donated by the sisters.
Butlin and Joll dated the work to c. 1835-1840 and suggest that it is a fragment of a larger canvas 'which has certainly been worked on by a hand other than Turner's'.[ 3]
It was removed from display, but did appear in a 2007 exhibition. It returned to display in September 2012.[ 4]
It was featured on the BBC TV programme Fake or Fortune? Martin Butlin , the co-author of the Turner catalogue raisonné [ 5]
An X-ray showed that a lighthouse at the summit of the bluff had been painted over. Philip Mould and Bendor Grosvenor were able to establish that the scene was in Kent and not on the Isle of Wight as had been previously believed.
The coastline depicted is believed to be at St Margaret's at Cliffe ,[ 6] Goodwin Sands have long been recognised.
^ Herrmann, Luke; "The Davies sisters' Turners in Cardiff"; British Art Journal , 2008
^ Museum of Wales Archived 11 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine ^ Butlin, Martin, and Evelyn Joli. The Paintings of J. M. W. Turner
^ National Museum of Wales ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value). ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
Paintings
Lambeth Palace The Rising Squall Interior of a Romanesque Church c. 1795 –1800)Landscape with Windmill and Rainbow c. 1795 –1800)Diana and Callisto c. 1796 )Fishermen at Sea Interior of a Gothic Church c. 1797 )Limekiln at Coalbrookdale c. 1797 )Moonlight, a Study at Millbank Dunstanburgh Castle Aeneas and the Sibyl, Lake Avernus c. 1798 )Buttermere Lake Caernarvon Castle c. 1798 )Morning amongst the Coniston Fells, Cumberland Shipping by a Breakwater Tivoli and the Roman Campagna c. 1798 )View of a Town c. 1798 )Dolbadarn Castle Self-Portrait c. 1799 )View in Wales c. 1799 –1800)A Beech Wood with Gypsies round a Campfire c. 1800 )A Beech Wood with Gypsies Seated in the Distance c. 1800 )Landscape with Lake and Fallen Tree c. 1800 )View on Clapham Common c. 1800 –1805)The Fifth Plague of Egypt Dutch Boats in a Gale Fishermen Upon a Lee-Shore in Squally Weather The Tenth Plague of Egypt Ben Lomond Mountains, Scotland Jason Ships Bearing Up for Anchorage Bonneville, Savoy Calais Pier The Festival of the Opening of the Vintage at Mâcon Boats Carrying Out Anchors The Destruction of Sodom The Deluge The Shipwreck Windsor Castle from the Thames Fall of the Rhine at Schaffhausen The Thames at Weybridge Walton Bridges Cliveden on Thames A Country Blacksmith Linlithgow Palace Sun Rising through Vapour Two Captured Danish Ships Entering Portsmouth Harbour The Junction of the Thames and the Medway The Forest of Bere Pope's Villa at Twickenham Margate Sheerness as Seen from the Nore The Unpaid Bill View of Richmond Hill and Bridge Fishing Upon the Blythe Sand The Garreteer's Petition Harvest Dinner, Kingston Bank London from Greenwich Park Ploughing Up Turnips The Trout Stream Sun Setting through Vapour The Fish Market at Hastings Beach High Street, Oxford The Wreck of a Transport Ship Apollo and Python Somer Hill, Tonbridge Saltash with the Water Ferry Hulks on the Tamar St Mawes at the Pilchard Season Teignmouth Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps Frosty Morning Dido and Aeneas Dido building Carthage Crossing the Brook The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire Raby Castle Dort or Dordrecht The Field of Waterloo Richmond Hill Entrance of the Meuse Rome, from the Vatican George IV at St Giles's, Edinburgh The Battle of Trafalgar The Bay of Baiae The Harbour of Dieppe Cologne Forum Romanum Mortlake Terrace Port Ruysdael Rembrandt's Daughter Scene in Derbyshire The Chain Pier, Brighton Chichester Canal East Cowes Castle Palestrina Regulus View of Orvieto Vision of Medea The Banks of the Loire The Loretto Necklace Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus Calais Sands at Low Water The Evening Star Funeral of Sir Thomas Lawrence Pilate Washing his Hands Caligula's Palace and Bridge Lifeboat and Manby Apparatus Going Off to a Stranded Vessel Van Tromp's Barge Entering the Texel Christ Driving the Traders from the Temple Childe Harold's Pilgrimage - Italy The Prince of Orange Landing at Torbay Helvoetsluys Staffa, Fingal's Cave Quillebeuf, Mouth of the Seine Rotterdam Ferry-Boat The Fountain of Indolence The Golden Bough Venice: The Dogana and San Giorgio Maggiore St Michael's Mount, Cornwall The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons A Disaster at Sea Keelmen Heaving in Coals by Moonlight Line Fishing, Off Hastings Rome, From Mount Aventine Venice, from the Porch of Madonna della Salute c. 1835 )Juliet and her Nurse The Parting of Hero and Leander The Fighting Temeraire Fishing Boats with Hucksters Bargaining for Fish Phryne Going to the Public Baths as Venus Cicero at His Villa at Tusculum Modern Rome – Campo Vaccino The Slave Ship Neapolitan Fisher Girls Surprised Bathing by Moonlight Venice, the Bridge of Sighs Venice from the Giudecca Schloss Rosenau Campo Santo Snow Storm: Steam-Boat off a Harbour's Mouth The Dogana, San Giorgio, Citella, from the Steps of the Europa The Blue Rigi The Red Rigi Peace – Burial at Sea War. The Exile and the Rock Limpet Light and Colour The Opening of the Wallhalla St Benedetto, Looking Towards Fusina The Sun of Venice Going to Sea Venice, Maria della Salute Approach to Venice Venice Quay, Ducal Palace Ostend Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway The Arrival of Louis-Philippe at Portsmouth Sunrise with Sea Monsters Norham Castle, Sunrise c. 1845 )Seascape: Folkestone c. 1845 )Whalers Whalers Entangled in Flaw Ice Queen Mab's Cave The Hero of a Hundred Fights The Wreck Buoy Mercury Sent to Admonish Aeneas The Departure of the Fleet The Beacon Light Prints Museums Related
