Turner, Self portrait at age 24. This image painted around

*Turner, Self portrait at age 24. This image painted around 1799 is part of the Tate collection and features on the £20 note issued by the Bank of England in March 2020. When Turner died he bequeathed a large number of his paintings to the nation. The entire bequest – most of which is now housed in the Clore Gallery at Tate Britain – comprises almost 300 oil paintings and around 30,000 sketches and watercolours, including 300 sketchbooks. At the time of his death, various cousins contested the will, arguing that Turner’s wishes amounted to an illegal act.*
However after the case was resolved, the court decreed that not only Turner’s finished works, but all his artistic works were to be included in the donation, resulting in a much larger bequest. After several moves to various addresses in the capital, Turner’s paintings were finally housed together at the National Gallery, London in 1861 and in 1876 all of his sketches, watercolours and drawings were united with the paintings at the National Gallery. The bulk of the collection was then transferred In 1910 to the Tate Gallery, established in 1897 as an annexe to the National Gallery.