Mr. Turner

This is an exploration of the great if eccentric British painter J.M.W. Turner (1775-1851) during the last quarter century of his life. Profoundly affected by the death of his father and loved by a housekeeper he takes for granted and occasionally exploits sexually, he forms a close relationship with a seaside landlady with whom he eventually lives incognito in Chelsea. Throughout this, he travels, paints, stays with the country aristocracy, visits brothels, is a popular if anarchic member of the Royal Academy of Arts, has himself strapped to the mast of a ship so that he can paint a snowstorm and is both celebrated and reviled by the public and by royalty.