Thursday 8 January 2015

JMW Turner's Twickenham house 'saved' by Lottery grant

Twickenham Villa of JMW Turner RA engraved by WB Cooke c1814, with later colouring, from an original watercolour by William Havell

The house was depicted in this engraving by WB Cooke shortly after it was built
A house designed and owned by JMW Turner is to be restored and opened to the public after receiving a £1.4m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Turner built Sandycombe Lodge in Twickenham, London, in 1813, and used it as his country retreat until 1826.
But it has fallen into a poor state of repair in recent years.
It has only been open to the public for one afternoon a month, but will be open for 46 weeks of the year from 2016, once restoration work is finished.
Turner, one of Britain's greatest painters, designed the building as a retreat from his central London studio and as a permanent home for his elderly father, a retired wigmaker and barber, who looked after the house and garden.