Status Updates From Turner and the Sea

“Turner used the varnishing day (the time allowed for artists to make last-minute adjustments to their works before the exhibition opened) to add a small but conspicuous paint mark to his sea, which he then shaped into a red buoy. Constable, recognizing that this simple gesture made his own heavily worked painting look ridiculously overblown, famously declared that Turner 'has been here, and fired a gun'.”