In 1801, at the age of 26, Joseph Mallord William Turner became the youngest ever member of the Royal Academy. His early paintings combined great historical themes with inspired visions of nature, but subsequent experiments with the effects of light led him swiftly towards a evolutionary dissolution of forms. In this profusely illustrated book, Olivier Meslay invites us to follow the development of Turner's incandescent art, a bridge between Romanticism and Impressionism and one of Britains' most remarkable contributions to art.