Oil on board, portrait. Unsigned and attr. Joseph Mallord William Turner (British, 1775-1851). Inscribed with collector's note on verso. 12 x 10 inch (30.48 x 25.4 inch). Turner's place in British art, as in the development of Romantic landscape, cannot be overstated. Precocious in youth, challenging and surpassing the artists of his time, he was elected a member of the Royal Academy at the earliest possible moment and went on to transform his style so radically as to provide an example for several future generations of artists. His development was based on a firm appreciation of the art of his predecessors, and it was this grounding in the work of the Old Masters that sustained and gave structure to even his most revolutionary work. In the early years of the nineteenth century he emulated the two great masters of seventeenth century landscape, Poussin and Claude, and by the 1830s when he exhibited his first oil paintings of Venice, he had widened the field of celebrated masters that he challenged in his own work. Turner's example continued to be highly important for later European and American artists, among them Paul Signac and, more recently, Mark Rothko. PROVENANCE: Private collection (London, United Kingdom)

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By [Artist Name] : In our opinion, the work is by the artist.

Attributed to [Artist Name] : In our opinion, the work may be ascribed to the artist on the basis of style, but there may be some question as to actual authorship.

In the manner of [Artist Name] : In our opinion, the work was executed by an unknown hand, but was designed deliberately to emulate the style of the artist.

After [Artist Name] : In our opinion, the work was executed by an unknown hand, but is a deliberate copy of a known work by the artist.

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American, 19th century : In our opinion, this work was executed by an unknown hand, and can only be identified by origin (i.e., region, period).

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Apocryphal : Of doubtful authenticity.