Turner Worldwide

16 June 2003

Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum is excited to have been able to contribute an image from its collections to Turner Worldwide.  This ambitious scheme has just been launched by Tate Britain to provide on-line access to images of all of the surviving works by J M W Turner, one of Britain’s greatest artists. 

Cheltenham’s image is a watercolour painted by Turner in about 1791.  Its title is ‘Cook’s Folly, Clifton, with a view of the Severn’ and it shows a view looking down through trees on the river winding into the distance with a sailing boat and the folly perched on a hillside. 

Access is available through the Tate website www.tate.org.uk    The watercolour cannot be shown on a permanent basis at the Art Gallery & Museum because it is very light sensitive.  However it will be part of an exhibition on Cheltenham’s watercolour collection from 17 January to 29 February next year. 

Mary Greensted, Arts & Visitor Services Manager at the Art Gallery & Museum said, “We are very pleased to have taken part in this important international project. The internet will never provide a substitute for the real object, but projects like this are a fantastic resource particularly when they involve popular but vulnerable material such as this watercolour.” 

Archived Press Releases