In 1856, nearly five years after Turner's death, his estate was settled by a decree of the Court of Chancery. This declared that the works found in Turner's studio that were considered to be by his own hand were accepted by the nation as the 'Turner Bequest'. The most publicly visible part of the collection is the large group of oil paintings, nearly 300 in total. This includes many of the works Turner exhibited, and with which he established his reputation. There are also many unfinished oil sketches, such as Norham Castle, Sunrise, which have only found an audience in recent times. Nine paintings from the Bequest are retained at the National Gallery, two of which are required by the terms of Turner's will to hang in close proximity to pictures by Claude Lorrain.

The collection also includes something like 10,000 pieces of paper on which the artist worked in pencil, watercolour, or gouache. Highlights among the examples of Turner's finished watercolours are the designs for the sets of The Rivers of England and The Ports of England, or the illustrations for poetry by Samuel Rogers. The collection also contains around 300 sketchbooks, some of which were broken up for display in the nineteenth century. These offer an unrivalled means of understanding Turner, documenting the full range of his interests. As well as preliminary designs for pictures, there are travel notes, scraps of poetry, studies on the use of perspective, building projects, financial calculations, and figure studies.

To find out more about the works see the Turner collection
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