JMW Turner’s output was prolific, and any exhibition of his work must find some route into an oeuvre that  shifts from enlightenment classicism to romanticism and the dawn of the modern. This exhibition finds its unity from Italy’s influence upon Turner and explores the development of his work throughout the seven journeys he took to the peninsula.

Turner first made the trip during the 1802 Peace of Amiens, taking advantage in the cessation of hostilities to travel to France and explore Napolean’s 'acquisitions' at the Louvre before making the treacherous Alps crossing to Aosta. It was here he found a city dominated by Roman ruins that would forever seal his love affair with the country.

This first trip provided Turner with ample material to produce ‘typical’ landscapes that have their roots in the Arcadian ideal of Lorrain. Thomson’s Aeolian Harp, produced upon his return, is a wonderful pictorial allegory of his desire to bring Italy home, the view of Twickenham doused in a shimmering Mediterranean light as the Three Graces dance on Richmond Hill portends his radical and imaginative development of landscape art.

There are many large crowd pleasers here; Rome from the Vatican dominates the central gallery providing evidence of Turner’s own art historical knowledge and alongside there are plenty of stunning examples of his mastery of illumination. Radiating from the dull walls of the gallery are fleeting shafts of yellow sunlight that so irked his contemporary critics and offer an illustration of the spirituality that Turner found in daylight.

It is the final two galleries that exhibit the work that would ensure Turner’s place in our modern artistic consciousness. The exhibition moves on from Rome to Venice, edges gradually dissolve whilst water and stone melt into one until, in the final room we are again at Aosta, now all but lost amid a deluge of pure sunlight. But it's the side attractions of this exhibition that make it truly worth a second look. Piranesi’s prints demand detailed examination and Turner’s own sketchbooks and library provide evidence of voracious study of Italy by a highly observant and contemplative traveller.

Works like Modern Rome - Campo Vaccino explore his change in outlook on Italy from crumbling mausoleum of antiquity to vibrant cultural melting pot. Any Turner exhibition leaves a curator with the difficult choice of what to exclude, and at times Turner in Italy does feel that part of the story is missing – but instead you are offered your own romantic journey strewn with bandits, volcanoes and unrivalled beauty. It is a journey I urge you to take.