Turner and Constable

Nicola Moorby is an independent art historian and curator specialising in British art of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, particularly J. M. W. Turner, British watercolour, and early British modernism.

“Spirited and absorbing. . . . Dispel[s] myths and show[s] how the two artists defined and played off against each other.”—Jenny Uglow, New York Review of BooksAn Art Newspaper Book of the Year 2025“[Moorby’s] approach, which allows each artist’s work to be illuminated in terms of the other, provides a way of addressing what really matters in any artist’s life story: the work they leave behind.”—Ben Street, Times Literary Supplement“Moorby astutely explores the parallels in [Turner and Constable’s] practices, highlighting how both men furthered British landscape painting.”—Gareth Harris, Art Newspaper“Highly enjoyable and sharply written. . . . Moorby sets out to examine the artists ‘side by side instead of face to face’ and helps us to see them in a refreshingly new light.”—Bendor Grosvenor, Times (UK)“Moorby fuses diverse perspectives in order to preserve the thrill of hagiography without sacrificing integrity to sensationalist accounts.”—Ella Nixon, The Critic“[Moorby] has read widely and provides generously by way of an introduction to both artists.”—Nicholas Cranfield, Church Times“By peeling back the layers of fiction that surround their achievements, [Moorby] offers a fresh look at their careers throughout the late 1700s and 1800s and charts the rise of landscape painting for which they are best known.”—Alice Henderson, Business Traveller“A pleasure to read . . . and will appeal both to the average intelligent reader and the art expert.”—Bernard Richards, Oxford Magazine“Nicola Moorby rises admirably to the challenge of telling the fascinating story of . . . Turner and Constable . . . not only providing a vivid portrait of each protagonist, but also skilfully delineating the social and artistic milieu in which they operated.”—Mark Jones, Albion Magazine