Most famous image of JMW Turner not a self-portrait, says expert

"Dr James Hamilton, who has published books on Turner and staged exhibitions at museums and galleries nationwide, said that while the painting does depict the English Romantic painter, it is likely to be the work of his contemporary, John Opie. Hamilton told the Guardian he started researching the portrait because there's nothing else like it in Turner's work. He said he allowed its title to pass without comment in his 1997 book, Turner A Life, and even used it on the book's cover, but had failed to think hard enough about it."

"He now believes the portrait was misattributed after being included among nearly 300 oil paintings and 30,000 sketches and watercolours in the Turner Bequest following the artist's death in 1851. A 19th-century engraving of artist John Opie. Illustration: Alamy Hamilton said: Turner's relations challenged the will and, after a long, tortuous court case, the judge said the family can have the money and the nation gets the pictures not only the ones that he wanted the nation to have, but everything by his hand in his studio."

"There were many pictures hanging in disarray in Turner's house in Queen Anne Street. They had no way of knowing who the portrait might be by if it wasn't by Turner and of course it was too good to lose. So it was lumped in with the rest. But it was never, even on early lists, a self-portrait'. It was always a portrait of Turner'. Gradually, over the years, it became an assumption that it was by him."

"The painting, dated c1799 when Turner was 24, was created by a master portrait painter with brilliant dexterity, Hamilton added. Turner and The Fighting Temeraire as seen on the 20 banknote. Illustration: Bank of England/PA He concluded that stylistic evidence poi"

In 2020, Tate Britain launched a new 20 banknote featuring The Fighting Temeraire by JMW Turner and a famous self-portrait. A leading expert, Dr James Hamilton, has said the portrait is not by Turner. He believes the painting depicts Turner but was likely painted by Turner’s contemporary, John Opie. Hamilton began researching the work because it has no close equivalent in Turner’s known output. He previously accepted the title in his 1997 book and used it on the cover. He now argues the portrait was misattributed after Turner’s death in 1851, when it was grouped among many works in the Turner Bequest, despite early lists not calling it a self-portrait.

Read at www.theguardian.com