J.M.W Turner: BIG SHIP ENERGY!!!!!

Introduction

0:00Please enjoy this ringback tone while your podcast is reached.

0:11This is Raquel and Chelsea, and you're listening to Baroque Bitches. Welcome to Baroque Bitches, your art history gossip podcast.

Personal Updates

0:36I'm Chelsea. I'm Raquel. And we're going to get into the down and dirty tea on this highbrow fancy art. It's December. Oh, December, Sagittarius season. I just got my birthday present from Raquel, and I'm obsessed with it. It's a little, oh, I should go grab it, but it's a little bat that's encased in resin. We're naming him Balthazar.

1:07Balthazar, because he has balls, right? Because I noticed his little balls. Yeah, I think they're balls, or maybe, I don't know. I don't know bat anatomy that well. Maybe somebody on the, somebody listening knows bat anatomy. Does all, does all little bats have little looking, that's very distinct. We'll have to put a picture of it. I'll get a, I'll get a good picture of him. Um, but yeah, it's like in a globe, right? Yeah. It's like a paperweight. It's so cool. It's, I'm like, yes.

1:38Oh my God. Perfect. So yeah, my birthday. And of course your son Diego's birthday. Oh my God. So many birthdays. Brands popping off, getting wasted. It's my mom's birthday today. It was my stepdad's birthday a few days ago, the day before your birthday. Popping off.

Birthday Celebrations

1:56Popping off. Yeah. I went to a little, um, for my actual birthday. Cause it was just a Wednesday. And I know it's December. Ew. Like, oh, right. Your birthday. Oh my God. Gross. No, I'm doing holiday stuff.

2:11But like, we went to, we just walked around orange circle, uh, and which is this cute little town and little, like, you know, center in my, in my area and went to a little, just bothered a bunch of locals at the local pub and got wasted. I drink a lot of espresso martinis are my new RBV. Oh God, dude. Be careful. The same feeling, but a much better taste. Like uppers and downers, downers and uppers, uppers and downers, downers and uppers.

2:41That cannot be good for your heart. It's okay. Once a year. Oh my God. It's so, they're so good though, too. They're probably a thousand calories too. It's just, I don't care. I don't care. No, they're so good, but I can only have, I'm like in my old age, older age. I'm so caffeine sensitive that if I, if I did that, I'd be like laying down to go to bed and be like having a panic attack. Like, Oh my God, my heart. No, I'm going to die. That's like, yeah. My medical OCD just creeping in all the time.

Family Updates

3:12Yeah. Yeah. We had, I'm glad you had a good time. Did mom come? We had fun. No, mom didn't come. Um, I did have lunch with her at this cute vegan spot in Laguna Lagoon. So cute. And then I did a dinner with my dad at this really fancy restaurant that was like too fancy and, um, orange Hill. Okay. It's supposed to be some historical thing that's been there forever. It's a, I pass it all the time when I go on this little route, it's on the top of this hill and there's no, it's super crowded and crazy.

3:45And I did not know it was like ball gown themed. Oh my God. I was like, Oh, they're so fancy. I mean, I wore a nice dress, but I could have gone super fancy of like next time. And we had to like, cause it was so packed. We had to drive to a parking lot, like two miles away and take a shuttle. Oh my God. And it like, you drive all the way up this hill, like the food and everything was great, but it was just a lot, a lot of work. That is a lot of work. Like, dude, we could have gone to El Torino. Oh, like, we don't, but it was, it was very fancy, very, probably very expensive.

4:19So thank you, dad. Thank you, mom. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Steve.

Diego's Birthday

4:23How was Diego's Yoshi thing? I think it was a Mario Yoshi thing. Um, so no, it was specifically Yoshi themed, which they make the only decorations available on Amazon are like off brand Yoshi, you know, like generic brand Yoshi. So we homemade decorations, which were adorbs. We did paper mache eggs for goodie bags. Cute. So we stuffed it and like, that was adorable.

4:55Cute. Um, and then we went for, he kept asking to go on a trip. And I know this is like way too much for a normal birthday, but because we've put him through so many moves and changes, I think we're both feeling incredibly guilty.

Great Wolf Lodge

5:10So we went, we went to Great Wolf Lodge. Cute. I've heard about that place. No, my, um, my sister goes that my sister lives in Cincinnati, so she knows Ohio shit. Oh yeah. So she's really close to Great Wolf. I mean, they have one in Anaheim, but it's like. Oh, okay. I thought it was like specifically Ohio shit. No, they're all over. And it's like a giant indoor water park with like an arcade and bowling.

5:37Let me just say. It sounds really fun for the kids. My priorities have completely changed. Totally changed. Like when we went to Chicago and we stayed in like, you know, downtown, we were like, oh, this is like, can't wait, go downtown Chicago. Yeah. Literal nightmare with kids. And then going to this, it's like, ah, you can just. At least they can run around and be somewhat safe. They're constantly entertained. Everything is for them. And that takes the load off of you. Yeah. So in a way, it's like, oh, this is what my vacations look like now.

6:09Okay, fine. That's fine. Whatever.

6:12Lots of arcades. I remember a lot of arcades. Yeah. Arcades. I always wonder about the parents that are doing the like very, like seemingly shmedicational, you know, vacations where they're taking their young kids to art museums and things like that. And like, my kid's not interested. Unless they're really into it. And like, yeah, I don't know if you want to torture them with that. Is that the ages they're at? It's like asking kids to be like quiet. Like, my kids are not quiet.

6:43Like, no. If you got to run them around, you got to just run them around. That just sounds like so much stress, like managing their vocal levels and emotions in a place where you're like needing to be quiet. My literal nightmare. No, thanks. Yeah. No, I think that lasts for only so long. I remember my sister saying like, oh, I'm not going to be one of those moms that has just kid shit everywhere. Like, it's not going to be like that. We're going to have a little cupboard with kid shit in it and we'll put it away every night. Oh, my God. Please.

7:13Please. Her house is exploded. Exploded with kids. And it's just, it's so much easier to have entertainment everywhere for them and their toys and whatnot. And it's like, just like how it should be, right? Like, kids. Totally. You've got a kid house. If you have kids, they should be, they should feel welcomed in your space. Yeah. Don't spray paint your shit beige. Yeah. You can spray paint your kid shit beige because it doesn't match your, you just have to, you got to live with the color. Lean into it. Lean into it.

7:43It's fun. Yeah. No more sad McDonald's. We are. I know. Everything's industrial and gray. I thought we were doing gray. We want everything to be gray. But here we are.

Holiday Season

7:57We're here. It's, it's the second day of Hanukkah as we're recording. So happy Hanukkah. Merry Christmas. We're going to run to Adonai. Yes. All that good stuff. But yeah, we have, I'm okay. I guess I'm not cool by having white lights. I'm not cool. Oh my God. I, am I, is that bad? Is that? Like Christmas? White Christmas lights. Holiday lights? I like, yeah, holiday lights. I like white. I mean, literally do whatever you want.

8:29And now I'm, now everyone's like, oh, you're such a millennial. You have all white lights. Okay. Yeah. It's nice. It's nice.

8:39I am. I think we're in our era of do whatever you want. We have white and rainbow, but I bought the like vintage ones. That's where we're at. You go for the retro. You like the, I like the fat bulbs, but I like, my thing is I like a little, I'm like it's classy.

8:57Okay, Kim. Okay, Kim. I want to be classy.

9:02Oh my gosh. But yeah, decorate however you want. It's Christmas. You're surviving.

Episode Topic Introduction

9:07We're coming in on a really good one for today. I think the end of the year, this is a super fun one for the end of the year. This was requested by you. You guys, we are listening. You did this. You did this. You. Disgusting. You nasty. You nasty. Nasty girl. Because this one is really fun. So I think, I think we should, might as well get into this boy. Yes.

9:36Let's visualize.

9:44My mind is a very specific collection of stars and dust in a box that's on fire. My body, this broken vessel that I was born into, carries this overwhelming collection. No hoard. It's very hard to carry. Not really sure why I carry it. It's technically not even mine.

10:16Every time I open it, I hurt myself. Outside, it's charred and broken. And inside, it's violent chaos. It's the hellish horde of every vessel that was put on this earth before me. And now it's my responsibility to man the flame. But is that really my job? What if I said no? Would I be fired? Or would I be set free? What if I was the only one to let it all burn to the ground? Or what if I tossed it into the sea and let it sink to the bottom, where nobody will be

10:50bothered with it again? Why can't I just let it go? Who told me to hold on to it anyway? My lunatic mother or my dead father? What do they know? Besides the oppressive weight of this ancient accumulation. If it destroyed them, what the hell am I doing with it? Okay. Then it's decided. I'm tossing it in the ocean to be washed away with the tide. I'm starting fresh. I'll make new stars and new dust.

11:21And the vessels that come after me won't suffer from my collection. They'll learn from it. Cherish it. And carry it with great pride.

J.M.W. Turner Introduction

11:32Which brings us to our gossip topic, J.M.W. Turner. Big ship energy. This boy. Yes.

11:48Yes. Recent winner of our Patreon poll. This is Britain's greatest painter. I guess Britain, well, the BBC, had a poll too in 2005. Oh, really? That name Turner's The Fighting Tamerare, Britain's greatest painting. And they love this boy so much that they don't like to share all of his life more. That's where we come in. Oh, my gosh. What do you know about our boy?

12:20Do you know anything about Turner? I mean, no, not really. Landscape, seascape. Yeah, like landscape, seascape. We know that our abstract expressionists liked him. So we got to figure out why do you like him? And we're going to talk about his epic seascapes as well as his secret stash of epic blowjage. Your precious boy is nasty. Oh, my God.

12:50I love it. And so much more. He's freaky. He's freaking freaky, this guy. We love him, though. So, A-S-L. Sex location. Joseph Malord. William Turner. Good name. Was born April 23rd, 1775 in London, England, making our boy a patient, hardworking, yet

13:21stubborn and indulgent Taurus. Oh, man. Love you guys. Tauruses. Perfect Taurus. Perfect, perfect Taurus. These guys are ruled by Venus, so they don't just love beauty. They fucking live for it. And Taurus artists will dedicate their lives to perfecting their very specific style. Yeah, changing is kind of eh to these guys. They don't really like that. Very difficult with change.

13:52They don't really like that. They don't want to adapt to anything. You need to adapt to them. These fixed earth signs stand their ground. And when they find their super niche thing, they stick to it, which describes our boy pretty well. Now, this is all a legend. He had T right off the bat with the birth dates. Now, our boy, we're calling him J-Dub. Because I'm rewatching the first season of Jersey Shore, like for the feels.

14:22Oh, my God. For like the 20,000th time. For nostalgia. For nostalgia. And we know how – did we know how iconic J-Woww was? Or were we all cool sluts back then? I mean, my name's J-Woww. J-Woww. Like, this bitch is so good. After I have sex with a guy, I will rip his fucking head off. Oh, yeah. That part. The praying mantis part. Oh, I love her. Amazing. Icon. We didn't know. We didn't know. We didn't know. No, I think everybody was just like steeped in jealousy of her.

14:54We were jealous and we were all a little bit there anyway. We were all like hot sluts. I mean, she was the queen. But, yeah, we just didn't even know. Anyway, J-Dub is weird. And he has claimed to be born on April 23, 1775, which is also Shakespeare's alleged birthday. Okay. We're creating mysticism. We're creating, you know, buzz. Yeah. Yeah. We're there. Some escapism maybe.

15:26People will think I'm born. I'm Shakespearean. I'm Shakespearean something. But then I guess he would state that he was born the same year as Napoleon, which was 1769. And the buzz. Either he's confused or he's trying to align himself with these famous people. Oh, totally. Or he did like trying to mess with the registrar, which he will do later. Interesting. So he just doesn't want to be known. I think he doesn't want to be known.

15:56He doesn't want to be conceived. I don't. I feel like Tauruses can be so indulgent. So like, and self-indulgent is part of that inclusion. So maybe it's something to do with that. But I love this. Smoke and mirrors. We will see some indulgence too. And here's another English boy. We have been loving the Brits these past couple episodes. Brits these past couple episodes. No. No. So you might hear some familiar names.

16:26Sorry. Charlie bit my finger. And it hurt. It hurt. And it's still hurting.

16:35Oh my God. You guys are so precious. You don't even know. You don't know. And it's all coming together. We totally plan to do all these British people. That's true. We're totally planned it. Totally planned. Totally planned.

Turner's Artistic Career

16:48So London. Late 18th and early 19th century. Who are you? Obviously we've got industry in this bitch. Now popping the fuck off. Trade was going nuts. Especially in London. She was like the Amazon headquarters when it came to global.

17:06She was Amazon.

17:09It's so sad that that's the power now. It is. Oh my God. It's ridiculous. Rules our life. So English art and culture were having this huge glow up with the Royal Academy dropping huge names like our boy Henry Fusili, John Constable, who's going to be tea later, and Gainsborough, the blue boy boy. And if you're in LA, you can see the blue boy at the Huntington Library. I highly recommend. And I love that they love that they have that painting.

17:42This is why sometimes you got to go to the gift shop first to see what these people are excited about. Oh, that's a good point. They got a lot of blue boy merch. Anything you want with the little blue boy on it, you can have. Blue boy is very sassy. He's very sassy. And it's also kind of like the Getty and all of the irises merch because they're really stoked. Yeah. These paintings are very expensive. I get it. And they're really stoked to have it. We need to recoup. So it's like you can decorate your kitchen and irises.

18:13Okay. I don't think Van Gogh was thinking of that when he painted that. But all right. It's fine. I don't need candlesticks with irises. I need them. It's deglapaged on them. Thank you. Do you burn those? Yeah, I don't know. Anyway, anyway, big names, big names popping off. So London is cool, but also kind of not because there was a giant and super obvious economic divide. Sure, sure. With wealthy merchants living it up in gorgeous theaters and cute cafes while the poor peeps

18:44are in slums getting fucking TB and shit. Sucks. Sucks. Which unfortunately brings us to the fam. Oh, no. Oh, God. Okay. Oh, mom. Mom was Mary Marshall and she came from a butcher family and she just wasn't doing well. She's not doing well mentally. She's not doing well. We don't have, of course, don't have a precise medical diagnosis.

19:15But researchers think that maybe we're looking at like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder or just straight up anxiety because of her economic situation. So she's struggling. No. But she still pops out two kids, our boy and his sister, Marianne. And then very sadly, only five years old, Marianne died. Probably. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, oh, no. There's some more weight on somebody that's not mentally great.

19:45And she probably died from an infectious disease like the measles, which is preventable now. Preventable. Kids died. Kids died. Okay. Remember that. Anyway. Anyway. This death was obviously super devastating and it sent mom over the edge mentally, which led her to being institutionalized at St. Luke's Hospital for Lunatics. And a few years later, she died there. Oh, God, no, that's not what you want. So what happened to her boy?

20:16So let's get to dad. Dad was definitely more stable. Dad was okay. Okay. He was a barber and a wig maker and they actually had a great father-son relationship. Oh, cute. Okay. Dad even noticed early on that J-Dub had artistic talent and would hang his sketches in the barbershop and would actually sell them. He made a little coin for his fam. And obviously, they were still super poor. And of course, with his mom having to be institutionalized, dad wanted him to save some form of stability

20:49for his kid. And yeah, his other kid died too. It's a lot. His family was going through a lot. But he would send our boy to his uncle's house in the country. And this is good. This is a good thing. This is where our boy is getting to see landscapes and getting into like all the pastoral feels. Starting to make sense. Yes. Yes. He's also going to school out there and getting a little normalcy while the family is trying to figure shit out with mom being in the living room. Right, right. Where's all the ship stuff happen?

21:20Well, this kid is sketching all over the place. He's totally obsessed with it, especially after getting the recognition from his dad's patrons, like early on, kid style. And his dad was actually really supportive of this. He did say to a patron, quote, my son, sir, is going to be a painter. Oh, like, he loves it. He's totally fine with it. He's totally fine with it. I love a supportive dad. He's fine with it. He's sketching landscapes, seascapes, and architecture.

21:54He was really into perspective and the illusion of depth. And he used his crazy technical skills to get into the Royal Academy of Arts. Okay, the big time. Sir Joshua Reynolds again, this bitch. And he actually liked Sir Joshua Reynolds. He was not fully against him like our other academics. Yeah, oh my God. This guy is connected to everyone. He really is. Yeah, Joshua Reynolds was a huge deal. And so J-Dub is insane.

22:25He got into the Royal Academy when he was only 14 years old. Wow. Like, what the fuck was I doing at 14? Cutting thumb holes in my hoodies to look like Jonathan Davis.

22:37That's what I was doing. I was not getting in any cool schools or anything. No. I was thinking like, yeah, definitely not. I was not drawing landscapes and seascapes. I was like doodling on my binder. I was drawing two C's. Eyeballs. I was all about an eyeball. Just one. Eyeballs, lips, doces. Just the ones. Because the second one is harder.

23:00And he was doing beautiful pastoral scenes. Writing notes in gym class. And things like that. Yeah. What is the fortune tellers? The fortune tellers. Cootie catchers. Cootie catchers. Cootie catchers. You're going to be rich. But your husband is going to be ugly. You're like shit. No. Okay. Okay. I'll live with it. It's fine.

23:28Oh my gosh. Okay. So he's doing great. He's doing great as a kid. Even though like family life isn't great. But he's moving on. And because he was so young. He had to test in. So he had to show them that he could draw from plaster casts. Like better than an adult. I guess. And he's confident at this point. Because he's already selling work in his dad's shop. So he's like whatever piece of cake. I'll draw your stupid cast. I sell things at this barbershop. You have no idea. I already sell. So that's cool.

23:58That's cool. And. I'm a working artist. Obviously. Yeah. I'm already here. So you guys were just. I mean I guess. I'll go to your school. It's fine. I guess. Because you guys are so cool. Whatever. So obviously he got in. And by 15 he showed his first major painting at the academy's summer exhibition. So you can check out a view of the Archbishop's Palace Lambeth.

24:29And we're going to have pictures on Patreon of course. And it's good. It's a good painting. Not the most like feely of all of Turner's work. So in this piece he was mostly showing off his precision.

24:46So yeah. He's a fucking Taurus. Let me show you how detail oriented I can be. So it's a scene with lots of perspective-y buildings and little classy people. Really nothing feely. Really all about let me show off how many little windows I can paint. Yeah. But the people's faces are freaky. They look like little paper dolls. They are. Yeah. The aristocracy is like always kind of always kind of made like infantilized the aristocracy in a weird way.

25:18They look like little freaky little demons. Yeah. They do.

25:25But this was a bit. This would have been considered a very good, very regular painting. And so this is a good move. This is a good move for him at this current point. Because he's trying to get into the architect scene. Yeah. No. And I mean the buildings, the color. The buildings are flawless. And they look like it's coming right out of the two-dimensional scene. So he understands perspective. He understands perspective. He understands depth. He understands color. Totally. He's got it all. So he's trying to get into the architect world.

25:57This is something that happens in art school. So I'm warning you. And I guess architecture is an artsy yet stable career choice. Don't do it. No. I'm just kidding. Architects are insane. Studying architecture is insane. You won't sleep. And when you do, you'll dream about like bridges collapsing and stuff. So proceed with caution, architecture students. It's not that fun. It's scary. It's intense. They give you a lot of crazy ideas. So even though this painting isn't really dramatic, it did snag him a few apprenticeships

26:32with several architects and topographical draftsmen working at the Royal Academy. So he's getting into the drawing buildings and map scene. Very cool niche scene. Funky. Okay. Come to our drawing buildings and maps club. We start sharp at 5 p.m. That's very earth sign. That's very touristy map. Yeah, sure. This is the world. This is my world. My little world. And at this point in art, landscapes were seen as more used for documentary purposes rather than fine art itself.

27:04Totally something that we've talked about before. We can compare it to the rise of photography into fine art as well. As when does it start becoming art? Right about this time. Right about this time. And it took some time to get landscape into the realm of fine art that it can work as a narrative in itself. So why does it need a guy on a horse or a nude woman to be considered fine art? Why can't a building be a story or the ruins of an ancient castle or like a sunset be a story in itself?

27:35But it was just not as introspective as we see it today. It served as a narrative. The artist was supposed to tell you what to think and feel instead of feeling free to come to your own conclusions. So we have to think of art being seen differently in this era of, is it something to do with me on the inside? Or is this more like a big, big, fat movie that'll just inspire me or something? Like, is, are we going deeper than that? Which we'll see Turner do that. And this is why this time in art history is fascinating.

28:09Our boy is in the right place at the right time for these ideas because we already have had some artists addressing this question. You know, what is art? What is life? Who am I? Who am I? J-Dev is looking at landscape painters like Claude Lorraine with his idealized classical scenes and Richard Wilson, who people call today the father of British landscape painting, giving realness drama to his landscapes, and Philip James de Lautherberg, who loves a good storm.

28:44So he's our stormy boy. And he's like, ooh, storms? What's up with storms? I like, do I like storms? I like storms. So our boy is trying to figure out where he fits in between. Am I a storm guy? Am I a storm guy? Or am I a math guy? Yeah. Oh, my God. He's so conflicted. More than what kind of hair, like a scene stirrer in 2005, trying to figure out what kind of hairstyle they're going to have. Totally. Am I into like typography type of stuff? Or do I want to be drama?

29:14Can I have bangs? Should I do a mullet? No. Or should I try to look normal and work in the shadows? I don't know. Nice and successful. Yeah, I get it. So he's figuring it out. He's leaning into, I think I want to be drama. He showed his next painting, Fisherman at Sea. This was his first major oil painting. This shit is dope. It's a gorge moonlit seascape. And this piece marked his big shift from architecture painter to big, fat, dramatic painter.

29:47Ooh. And the critics totally got it. One critic saying, quote, it's a marvel romantic notions of man in thrall to nature and a nocturnal scene of uncommon power. Yeah, I'm drama now. Yep. It's happened. The shift has happened. This is a mic drop painting for sure. Yes. Yeah, this was the shift. And this all brings us to some really fun Royal Academy tea.

Royal Academy Tea

30:18Okay. Finally. So here's the tea. Here's the tea. Here's the tea. What is it? What is it? So this dude, John Constable, who is a huge deal. He made this painting, The Opening of Waterloo Bridge, which is a super dope bass painting. And it is the grand opening of this new bridge over the Thames River. And it's really gorgeous and detailed. And it had all these little pops of red from the flags on the ships. So it really was fiery.

30:49And Constable plopped this bitch right next to J-Dub's work on the wall at the Somerset House exhibition at school. Okay. J-Dub's painting was also pretty cool. So you can check out Hella Futslaus.

31:06Hella Futslaus. The city, maybe you might just want to type in the city of Utrecht, 64, going to sea. The city of Utrecht? Utrecht, U-T-R-E-C-H-T. Okay. 64, going to sea. And it's a bunch of boats. It's a bunch of boats. Yeah. Cute. At sea. And during Varnishing Day, when the Ardents do their final touches on their paintings

31:38in the exhibition. I know. What's going to happen? J-Dub was actually jelly of Constable's fiery red vibes and felt that it overshadowed his seascape. And remember, J-Dub was really big on detail. And he was shifting away from his highly detailed work into more drama. But then he's checking out Constable's detail. And he's like, fuck, but I want to be detail guy too. I want to be detail guy of is this better than mine?

32:10So he's stressing. My identity crisis. It's so good. It's so good. And it looks, mine looks like shit compared to it. Yeah. So J-Dub plopped a little red buoy on his painting to give it that pop of red that Constable had in his work, which looked hella good on his seascape. You can't go wrong with a pop of red. It's still applied. That's true. And Constable actually noticed J-Dub's little red buoy in the seascape, obviously, is being

32:41super petty. And I have to give it to Constable on this one, because he was literally working on this painting for like a decade. It's highly detailed. And J-Dub's is good. It's the better painting. It's good, but it's simple. It's simple. It's like not, it looks not finished. Constable's is wild. Yeah. And so when Constable noticed, he famously cried out, quote, he had been here and fired a gun.

33:11The audacity of like he knew that he was totally trying to overshadow his awesome red painting with his little buoy. Oh my God. I love it. So J-Dub's work, the one with the little red dot, had actually totally owned Constable's painting. J-Dub got great reviews. Oh no. And this incident really established him as a great painter and Constable's enemy. Oh my God. And even though Constable's painting was dope, it was actually not well received by critics.

33:45They called it crowded and confused. Which J-Dub's simpler composition looked way better in comparison to the composition of this one of like, it's just too much. And there, this is that time of art where, what is, what is it, what does it really matter? How long you've worked on it? How detailed and technically precise it is? Or how it makes us feel? Oh, like, I don't know. I don't know. We're at a turning point. It's crazy.

34:16So I think Constable was really writing on this super detailed painting to establish him as a great painter, which he is. He's huge. But this did put him, his panties in a twist for sure. And while Constable's painting wasn't well received, J-Dub got great reviews. One critic saying, quote, it was a noble picture full of the stirring grandeur of the sea and marked by the mastery of effect, which Turner alone possesses. I mean, it's really difficult, like, when looking at Constable's painting online.

34:49Yeah. I feel like it's like, oh, this didn't age well or this didn't photograph well. And I can't tell what it is. It's like when you take a picture and it's, like, slightly blurry. That's kind of how it feels, like, when you're looking at it. So, I mean, technically it does feel like the better painting. But I don't know. I don't know. So it's to say, which is better? They're both good. Yeah, that's true. Especially this painting from Constable. It didn't receive good reviews then.

35:20But, of course, it's, like, highly regarded as one of the greatest landscape paintings today. I think they were – we have to choose who's better, who's worse at this point in art education. Yeah. And J-Dub definitely nailed it with this one of having the simpler composition, adding that little pop of red in the corner really just, like, solidified how much you can do with so little. He's our right place, right time kind of guy. Totally. It's shifting. We don't get him too often. Apparently, lately, we've been doing a lot of right place, right time artists.

35:54Totally. So our boy is making a ton of work, painting an oil and watercolor, and he's getting noticed. And here is the obligatory rich guy moment. Walter Ramson Hawksworth Fox – Fox. Oh, my God. Walter Ramson – was a landowner and a politician, and he was hearing about this kid that's painting both technically detailed watercolors and super dramatic oil paintings. Walter invited him to his house, Farnley Hall, so he can paint the surrounding areas.

36:27And they ended up becoming good friends, and Walter, one of J-Dub's biggest supporters. So, yes. Thank you. Thank you, rich guy. So, our boy is doing pretty good, getting commissions, doing the thing. We're not worried about his paintings right now. People like them. We are worried about some of his personal stuff, though. Oh, God. Okay. Let's get it. I want to know about that. Okay. The girl. Well, the most that we know about her. He was super reclusive and private, but we do know some stuff.

37:01He met Sarah Danby. She was the wife of a musician, so they did think that they were in similar art circles. That's why we think that they lived close to each other, too. Then her musician dude dies, John Danby. He's a great composer, whatever. He dies, and J-Dub and Sarah get together and actually have a couple of kids. Oh, wow. Okay. Evelina and Georgiana. Okay. We think that they're his kind of vibes.

37:32Oh, okay. Yeah, it sounds extremely complicated, and again, it's hard to tell where this is. So, here's the realty about all this. Some researchers say that Sarah's younger niece, who worked as J-Dub's housekeeper, was the actual mom of the kids. What? And Sarah might have taken over mom duties for her niece, who was obviously much younger.

38:04Okay. Like, how much younger? We're thinking teens. We're thinking, they're thinking, like, she could have been around an 18 situation, which is still gross. He would have been in his 20s. So, still gross. We're not sure, like, where maybe, yeah, Sarah wanted to take over for her niece, because that's already going to be a hard line. Okay, so the thought is, like, they're doing it, and then teen gets pregnant, and he's like, oh, fuck, I got to marry somebody socially acceptable marries.

38:40Mm-hmm. And then, okay. Yeah, yeah, and that's all we know about that. Oh, my God. So, there is going to be more girl stuff later on, like, way later on. Okay, okay. For sure. But what else? What else is wrong with him? Snuff. Okay. He really liked it. Why did I think snuff was cocaine? I thought snuff was cocaine. I mean, it sounds like it is. Like a five-minute. I totally thought it was blow, but it's not. It's probably just as addictive, though.

39:11It's concentrated powdered tobacco, and it would be a really popular activity for gentlemen at this time, and J-Dub really liked his snuff. And people noted that he would often sniff a little sniff all day long. Oh, my God. Got a little obsessed in the snuff floor, so I went into a snuff hole. So, I guess – I haven't tried it. I'm not going to try it. So, I guess when smoking tobacco started becoming more cool by the 19th century, snuff was seen as for, like, old dudes.

39:48Okay. And I guess using snuff was a little awkward. You can sneeze. You can sneeze it all out. Or you can have a runny nose. Like, I guess people would just, like, have runny noses all the time because you're breathing up tobacco. And I guess it was just kind of messy. You had to be really careful because the dust can be blown around. And snuff users would collect these, like, really cute, ornate boxes. It was a super popular art form from the time. But then later, they would be seen as old-fashioned, like your grandma's doilies.

40:21Bring back snuff – oh, my God. That sounds so disgusting. Bring back snuff boxes. You can put your weed in there. Like, don't bring back snuff. But I like the boxes. Oh, I like a breast mint. All these super cute boxes. I'll show a bunch of examples of the boxes. Super cute. And, like, fun and really creative. So, J-Dub is kind of shaky. He was already a little weird. In the academy – okay, he's a funny guy. In the academy, he specifically did not want to sit for portraits.

40:55Sitting for portraits was a big thing before photography, especially in art school. We usually can find a ton of examples of what these art dudes looked like because they were all constantly painting each other to practice and stuff. And to note, like, hey, you can get a free portrait. Like, these things are expensive. And Turner was pretty cute when he was young. I do love a distinct nose on a man and woman. Don't you chop off that nose, bitches. It's hot. Oh, come on. Yeah, don't.

41:26Please. Do it if you want to. Oh, my God. I'm not telling you. But we're just saying. We're just saying. You don't have to. Or not. Yeah, never mind. Or do whatever you want on your face. Don't ask me.

41:41So, if there is a portrait, the title card usually mentions, like, from memory in some capacity on the portraits that were made. So, he just could not be bothered. So, you can check out what he looks like from John Linnell's portrait, J.M.W. Turner. Cute. Mutton Chops have to make a comeback. I have been into this new phenomenon, the revive of the millennial optimist era, where all the dudes were dressing like coal miners and playing the banjo.

42:15Oh, yeah. And then having Mutton Chops. Hot. I did like that. I liked the suspender. I liked it. I liked that. Bring that back. Oh, my God. So, I guess J-Deb didn't like his Mutton Chops being immortalized. That's fine. Autonomy. I wonder if he was ever pissed off that these other artists are painting him, like, from memory. Like, get off me. Get off me. And he was also, okay. He was a weird dude. He's also weird about money. Okay. Like, he was pretty successful banging out commissions left and right.

42:48But he was, like, really reluctant about receiving the funds, like, receiving the commission money. He was just, like, really awkward about it, which I think a lot of artists can kind of relate to. You're placing this monetary value on your passion project. It's weird. It's totally necessary. But unless you have a bunch of money sitting around, you have family wealth or something, it's pretty necessary to put a fucking price on this shit and sell it so you can eat. Like, you got to do it.

43:19But no, patrons would want to pay him, but he would be so, like, wishy-washy about it that sometimes he just wouldn't get paid altogether. So that's why he collected these really solid patrons that knew this of him and would figure out a way to get him his funds. That's interesting. He's just over it. He hates that his life's works get boiled down to commodity. Yeah. But this attitude around money does kind of, like, bite him in the ass, dude. Like, it will bite you. You got to make money, man.

43:50I'm sorry. You got to figure it out. Sorry. It is a commodity. It sucks. I didn't make the rules. He also had some weird vibes with the Academy that started out his launch pad into success but eventually became toxic. So in the first few years, he was really – he was seen as, like, a prodigy. Remember, he's 14 busting out these crazy buildings with all these windows. It must be weird to be a prodigy, though, and then to, like, come of age for your talent, and then it's like, okay, well, I'm not special anymore.

44:20Yeah. Like, I'm still just painting. Yeah. And he shows up and stays under the Academy's umbrella for many years. Remember, Taurus, they don't really move much. He was elected as an associate of the Royal Academy, then became a full academician at 27 years old, which I guess is really nuts. That's really young to, like, achieve that level at the Academy. And when you become an academician – I don't know if I'm saying that – academician at the Royal Academy, this is the highest position for practicing artists.

44:56Okay. It's like a PhD of art. Yeah. You can exhibit at the gallery whenever you want. You can be in the jury for an exhibition and help curate the exhibition. You can teach. You're just overall respected in the Academy. The art guy. The art guy. You're cool. You're in the – under the umbrella of all these great artists. Then he actually became a professor of perspective for, like, 20 years. Wow. Which started out cool. You can lecture at the Academy. You're good.

45:27But then it got weird, and he ended up hating it, and his students just noticed, which we can totally relate to when an art teacher is fucking over it. They don't want to teach anymore. They don't want to teach anymore, but they have to. It's so annoying. It's so annoying. Don't teach anymore. Give that spot to someone else and go do something else. They said that he kept his Cockney accent, which was a faux pas back then. Okay. So, he's really like, no. No.

45:57No. I want – I talk like this. Okay. No.

46:03So, he's up in there in the Academy, which people are trying to speak, like, fancier, and he's like, no. No. And I guess he – his whole, like, speaking voice, he was really mumbling.