Joseph Mallord William Turner, to give him his full name, was an enormously productive artist who began in the 18th-century modes - both topographical and picturesque - developed into a European Romantic, and ended up on the fringe of abstract painting.
He was also one of the first major painters to raise watercolour to a status equal with that of oils, and the golden age of the English watercolour school coincides largely with his long lifetime (1775-1851).
Turner, as is sometimes forgotten, lived to become an eminent Victorian as well as a powerful figure in the Royal Academy and an influential teacher and lecturer. The National Gallery of Ireland puts its Turner watercolours on display, as in previous years, on the first day of this month. This time of year is chosen because of the light - watercolours are notoriously susceptible to strong daylight and should not be exposed to the sun, even indirectly.
There are drawings as well as watercolours included, as well as works by other artists such as John Robert Cozens and Paul Sandby who helped English watercolour art to develop from illustration into a self-contained style.
The NGI's Turners are among its treasures and were mostly bequeathed to the gallery in 1900 by Henry Vaughan. They cover a wide range of subjects, from Turner's favourite beach scenes to the grandiose Romantic rhetoric of his Continental landscapes.
His career is usually divided into "three periods", all of which are well represented. Starting with the homely, local, almost topographical style of his youth, they show how he evolved into a colourist whom the Abstract Expressionists of the mid-20th century claimed as a forerunner. To mark the occasion, the National Gallery has published an excellent catalogue by Barbara Dawson, Turner In The National Gallery, full of information and research as well as containing many good colour reproductions. It costs £9.95 and can be bought in the gallery shop. The exhibition runs until the end of January.