Turner and Constable

Nicola Moorby is an art historian and Curator of British Art 1790-1850 at Tate Britain. She has written widely on J.M.W. Turner, 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