A SPECIAL exhibition documenting the celebrated artist JMW Turner and his connection to Wessex will open at Salisbury Museum in May.

‘Turner’s Wessex: Architecture and Ambition’ will reveal new insights into Turner’s ambitious and innovative work as a very young man and his complex relationships with extremely wealthy patrons.

“We are astonished to discover that Turner began his career here in Salisbury, painting the town, its magnificent cathedral and the extraordinary Fonthill Abbey nearby,” said Adrian Green, director of the Salisbury Museum.

The museum will showcase Turner’s meteoric rise at the turn of the 19th Century, working for two of England’s wealthiest men.

He first visited Salisbury in 1795 when he was 20 years old. As his career developed, he returned to paint Stonehenge and its surrounding landscape.

Set on the backdrop of the vast Salisbury plain, his depictions of the ancient stones are among his most hauntingly atmospheric works. The exhibition has been selected by the distinguished Turner scholar Ian Warrell, working in collaboration with the team at Salisbury Museum, and builds attempts to build a picture of the brilliant young artist, driven by self-belief and limitless ambition, grafting his way in a complex world.

The collection of Turner watercolours of Salisbury Cathedral will be at the heart of the exhibition which will be seen together for the first time since 1883.

It runs from May 22 to September 27 and will form a part of the cities celebration for the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.