Frosty Morning by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851). Exhibited 1813. Oil on canvas. Courtesy of Tate Britain (Accession no. NO0492. Accepted by the nation as part of the Turner Bequest 1856.) Detail with central figures. Click on image to enlarge it.
Commentary from Tate Britain Online (2004)
This austere winter landscape was one of the most personal of Turner's exhibited pictures. It records a scene he witnessed while travelling in Yorkshire, and is said to include his eldest daughter, Evelina (in blue), and his 'crop-eared bay' horse (pulling the cart).
Turner was particularly fond of this painting, which he preferred not to sell. It was also admired by contemporary and later critics. The Spectator saw in it “the true tone of nature imitated to perfection.” Years after Turner's death, Claude Monet saw it and declared it had been painted with “wide-open eyes.”
Last modified 15 May 2016