Chapter 14: The Unknown Turner
John Anderson’s research materials
John Anderson Jr. had a thesis so far off the mark relative to traditional Turner scholarship that there could be no question. He claimed Turner hid his signature and date on every drawing and sketch he ever made.
“Let one but announce the fact,” Anderson wrote, “and immediately there are cries of ‘impossible, unreasonable, incredible.’ Happily, this attitude is assumed almost exclusively by those whose work and reputation are affected.”
The Unknown Turner was ahead of his time. His radical theories about hidden signatures would prove prophetic.
This is an excerpt. Read the full chapter in Art World’s Dirty Little Secret.