JMW TURNER was a very quirky man, but he doesn't fit the cliche of angst-driven creative genius. He was ambitious, organised, financially savvy and an effective self-publicist. He raised himself up from the working class to a position of wealth and influence, admired by powerful friends. The only secret to painting, he said, was "damned hard work".

He was in constant dialogue with the past and he remained an Academician all his life, but he was also deeply individualistic, both socially and artistically. He broke step, creating a world view that was both idiosyncratically subjective and enduringly influential. In him, English romanticism reached its apogee in the visual arts.