The first book to survey the full range of J.M.W. Turner's extraordinary sketchbooks, beginning with his teenage explorations and culminating in the masterful colour studies of his later years. J.M.W. Turner's sketchbooks provide us with a rare opportunity to witness the work processes of an artist of unparalleled importance. They give us a privileged look over Turner's shoulder, allowing us to witness the creation and development of ideas that can be traced through to his most famous paintings. In the absence of detailed written accounts of his extensive travels, the notebooks are also a record of his impressions of the many places he visited across Britain and Europe, and of his life.

J.M.W. Turner's elegant pencil sketches and watercolours of Venice are so poignant and evocative that the gentle sound of water lapping against gondolas can almost be heard when looking at them. In this beautiful selection, Ian Warrell employs the very finest examples of Turner's Venetian studies to either guide your next visit or awaken your memories of trips past. Join Turner as he progresses through the city, beginning at St. Mark's Basilica with the Campanile towering above and the coral-coloured exterior of the Doge's Palace. Drift onward toward the Bridge of Sighs and take a detour past the Hotel Europa where Turner preferred to stay. Travel onwards past the Giardini Reali, the Punta della Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute on your way to San Giorgio Maggiore and the Accademia. Drift away from the bustling markets around the Rialto on the Grand Canal heading toward the Frari and the Scuola di San Rocco, demonstrating the inspiration taken from Venetian masters such as Tintoretto and Veronese.

Up until a few years ago, biographies of both J.M.W. Turner and John Ruskin had claimed that, in 1858, Ruskin burned bundles of erotic paintings and drawings by Turner in a fit of embarrassed Victorian censorship, to protect Turner's posthumous reputation. Ruskin's friend Ralph Nicholson Wornum, who was Keeper of the National Gallery, was said to have colluded in the alleged destruction. However, in 2005 these works, which form part of the Turner Bequest held at Tate Britain, were re-appraised by Turner scholar Ian Warrell, who suggested that Ruskin and Wornum did not destroy the sketches and that almost all of the allegedly destroyed drawings are in the Tate collection. This lavishly illustrated book, the first exclusively devoted to Turner's erotic work, examines in detail this little known aspect of the artist's oeuvre. In his original essay, fully reproduced here, Warrell places the work within the context of Turner's social and artistic milieu, contemporary preoccupations with art for public and 'private' consumption, and the details and intricacies of Turner's life and output. An essential addition to the canon of work on Britain's most prolific and adored artist, this beautifully produced volume will be of interest to scholars, connoisseurs, and all Turner devotees.