Five of the exhibitions have looked at Turner decade by decade, beginning with 'Young Turner: Early Work to 1800', which was shown in 1988, and ending with 'Turner: The Final Years', which we saw in 1993 Other surveys have been more precise. Here are some of their titles: 'Turner and the Channel', 'Turner and Natural History', 'Turner and the Human Figure', 'Turner and the Art of Engraving', 'Turner's Papers: Manufacture, Selection and Use of his Drawing Papers 1787-1820', 'Turner's Rivers of Europe', 'Turner and Byron', 'Turner's Holland', 'Turner and Linear Perspective' and 'Turner's Vignettes'.Many more exhibitions on these lines are planned. I look forward to the show next year devoted to the graphic work in the Liber Studiorum, for I suspect that this obscure publishing venture holds many clues to the nature of Turner's ambition. Some people feel that this series of exhibitions avoids grand themes in favour of minutiae.

None the less they serve some purposes well: they unravel complexities and prove that Turner deserves to be studied in detail. Meanwhile, the refurbishment of the Clore Gallery allows more of Turner's paintings to be displayed. Expect around 170 to be on display at any one time, occasionally double-hung. For the first time a room is given exclusively to Turner's marine paintings. Most importantly, perhaps, there is a new emphasis on biography. The arrangement of paintings is more clearly chronological, and the former Watercolour Room has been converted to present an overview of Turner's life and times. Here we will see letters, books, examples of Turner's poetry and other archival material.TURNER HIMSELF could never have imagined that his life would be given this kind of scrutiny.