The Heron urner's Birds, by David Hill (Phaidon, £8.95, pp.
64), celebrates the acquisition in 1985 by Leeds City Art Gallery of 20 watercolours of birds made by Turner between 1810 and 1820 for his patron Walter Fawkes of Farnley Hall, Which is only a few miles from Leeds. Turner's favourite recreation was fishing, but he also enjoyed shooting and often stayed at Farnley for the Glorious Twelfth. It is not recorded if Turner was a good shot but we do know that he shot the cuckoo, illustrated here, 'at the earnest request of Major Fawkes'. Indeed, the majority of these beautiful watercolours were made from dead specimens and the only two examples drawn from life, the Robin and the Goldfinch, are markedly less successful.
All 20 watercolours are handsomely reproduced in colour as can be seen from the example of The Heron, illustrated here and the finest drawing of all. Each plate is accompanied by comments on the bird in question and its species by Michael Dens- ley; here one must challenge his assertion that 'Not being a native bird, the Pheasant would not survive in the wild'.
David Hill emphasises the warm friendship between painter and patron, and argues persuasively that his acceptance at Farnley as one of the family did much to compensate Turner for his lack of a stable domestic background. Hill also suggests that we learn more about Turner's true character and interests from accounts of life at Farnley than from any other source. Certainly the drawings he made of the house, its grounds, and the surrounding countryside, many of which happily are still at Farnley, have a spontaneity rarely matched elsewhere in his work. As Ruskin said of Turner's Yorkshire drawings, 'they have the most heart in them'.
Londoners will have an opportunity to see the Leeds watercolours as they are to be exhibited from 10 October — 11 Decem- ber at the Clore Gallery, where they will join other studies of birds in the Turner Bequest.
Evelyn Joll
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