The Problem of the Portrait

The 46th Kurt Pantzer Memorial Lecture of The Turner Society, given by James Hamilton.

The 2026 Pantzer Lecture will invite us to look afresh at the portrait of Turner as a young man, traditionally seen as a self-portrait. James will consider the painting’s discovery in 1854, the development of its life in exhibition, reproduction and discussion, and will offer a new interpretation of its origin.

James Hamilton made his career as curator and director of art galleries and art organisations in Portsmouth, Wakefield, Sheffield, Leeds and the University of Birmingham, 1972–2013. Within Turner studies his writings include Turner – A Life (1997, reissued 2025), Turner and the Scientists (1998), Turner: The Late Seascapes (2003), Turner’s Britain (2003), Turner and Italy (2009) and Making Painting: Helen Frankenthaler and J.M.W. Turner (2014). Among his other books are biographies of Michael Faraday (2002), Thomas Gainsborough (2017) and John Constable (2022), and a study of the commerce of art in nineteenth-century Britain, A Strange Business (2014).

Event schedule

6pm Doors open at the Paul Mellon Centre

6.30–7.30pm Lecture and Q&As

7.30–8pm Drinks reception

An option to join the talk online is also available – select 'Zoom ticket' when booking.

Image caption: J.M.W. Turner, Self-Portrait, c.1799, 98.5 x 82 cm. Digital image courtesy of Tate (N00458)

The 2025 Pantzer Lecture is supported by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.