Gold, Gods, and Glitter: Turner and His Fountain of Indolence

With the Masquerade closing in quickly (February 18th), one of our interns took a look at the piece and artist that have inspired this year’s theme; The Fountain of Indolence by J.M.W. Turner.

Joseph Mallard William Turner was born to a barber and a wigmaker in London, April 23rd, 1775. His artistic talent was evident from a young age, often displaying his work in his father’s barbershop window. At the age of 14 he was admitted as a student to the Royal Academy in 1789. His first watercolor exhibited at the Academy was in 1790. During the 1790s he worked as an assistant in architecture drawing houses. This early exposure to the techniques of a draughtsman is evident in his later works with his precision of form and color (Campbell).

In his early twenties he paid a visit to Northern Wales and later toured Switzerland and the Alps. Theses tours exposed Turner to the unrefined beauty and brutality of nature; this awe of nature played in part with Turner’s fascination with the ‘Sublime’, a concept often described as the awe inspiring vastness and violence of nature. These strong influences of raw beauty and power would heavily influence his later work (Campbell).

In 1802 he became a full member of the Royal Academy and then a professor of perspective in 1807. He opened his own Gallery on Harley Street in 1804 so that his work could always be on display. However, when he moved to another house in 1810, he became much more selective and restrictive with who could view his work. Turner also hated to part with his collection and would often buy his own work if it did not sell.

J.M.W. Turner’s work was also heavily influenced by his trip to Italy in 1819. There, light began to play an ever-growing part in his pieces thanks to his captivation with the work of the “Masters” and effects produced by the Italian light. Europe became a place he frequented often thereafter. Our painting the Fountain of Indolence, (1834, oil on canvas), is a good example that reflects this influence of light.

The Fountain of Indolence is thought to have been inspired by the James Thompson poem written in 1748, The Castle of Indolence. The poem is an allegory on the value of self-indulgence, and all forms of leisure can be seen throughout the landscape of the painting. Statues line the courtyard, lush forests and mountains fade off into the distance, Classical temples and buildings edge the scene, hundreds of bodies lounge about, and throughout it all, we are presented with a scene of magnificence. Dr. Samuel Johnson best describes this painting (although unknowingly) in a comment he made about the poem, calling it a “scene of lazy luxury that fills the imagination” (Campbell).

“Where listless spirits, wihtouten care and pain

In Idle Pleasaunce spend their Jocund Days,

Nor heed rewardful toil, nor seeken praise”.

Turner’s interpretation is no less imaginative and dreamlike. The poem speaks of a fountain in the middle of the court where people lounged and basked in its water and the sun’s rays.

“That in the middle of the court up-threw,

A stream, high spouting, from its liquid bed,

And falling back again in drizzily dew:

There each deep draughts, as deep he thirsted, drew:

It was a fountain of Nepenthe rare:

Whence, as Dan Homer sings, huge pleasaunce grew:

And sweet oblivion of vile earthly care,

Fair gladsome waking thoughts, and joyous dreams more fair.

(Canto I, xxvii)

Benad and Benad point out in their book, Trompe L’Oeil: Italy Ancient and Modern, that while Turner does paint a beautiful scene of advanced knowledge (with the library-like buildings and world on the wall) the mill in the background, representing agriculture is threatened to be consumed by this lazy luxury. The mill is almost a reminder that while having a good time and enjoying “the finer things in life” can be important from time to time, it is just as important to work hard and not be consumed by indolence.

For more information on Turner, see the references used in this post: Turner: In the National Gallery of Scotland by Mungo Campbell; Martin and Ursula Benad’s Trompe L’Oeil: Italy Ancient and Modern; and the write up by Winnie Field, one of the Gallery’s docents which is available for consultation in our library.