Features

Photos of the week… the South Downs

January 9, 2015

Discover Britain’s newest national park in the latest issue of BRITAIN – out today in the US – and peek inside Petworth House which is hosting a new exhibition on JMW Turner opening this weekend

Arundel_Castle_sunset — Arundel Castle at sunset. Credit: Peter Lewis/Getty

Reaching 260 square miles across Hampshire to East Sussex, the South Downs is renowned for being one of the places to nurture the British landscape art movement. It’s here that JMW Turner – one of the most talented landscape painters of all time – found an early fan in Sir George O’Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont, and inspiration for over 100 pieces of work.

Egremont was a British peer who owned Petworth House in Sussex. He was a voracious supporter of British art and became one of Turner’s first patrons. Here Turner joined the ranks of contemporaries, such as Romantic painter John Constable, portrait painter George Romney and sculptor John Flaxman, who were given the run of the house in the pursuit of creating art. This was referenced in the early scenes of the 2014 film Mr Turner, part of which was filmed at Petworth House.

Scroll through our gallery below for a preview of what you’ll find in our article on the South Downs in the latest issue of BRITAIN – out today in the US – plus find information on the Turner exhibition at Petworth House and Park which opens this weekend.

The Grand Staircase and Turner’s paintings in the Carved Room, Petworth House

Credits: Travel Pix Collection/AWL Images Ltd National Trust Images/Bill Batten)