Rome from the Vatican (1820) : Turner first visited Rome when he was 42 years old, and at the height of his success as an artist. The city was full of associations with the subjects from Roman antiquity, mythology and art, which Turner dramatised in his work. When he returned home, Turner painted this sweeping view from the Vatican, across St Peter�s Square towards the Abruzzi hills. It embraces all that Rome meant to him. It is the historic centre of the Roman Empire, and its successor, the Christian Church, and then of the great artists of the Renaissance - including Raphael, who stands in the foreground. *JMW (Joseph Mallord William) TURNER (1775-1851) was one of the most important English Romantic Painters of the 19th century. He is known for his expressive colourisations, imaginative landscapes and turbulent, often violent marine paintings. Turner's imagination was sparked by shipwrecks, fires, and natural phenomena such as sunlight, storm, rain, and fog. He was fascinated by the violent power, turbulence and tidestorms of the sea. It's said that his last words before death were, 'The Sun is God!'