JMW Turner’s mother died when the artist, then 29, was busy preparing for and opening his first public exhibition, and her “mental illness”, referred to in your review of the BBC Two documentary Turner: The Secret Sketchbooks (19 November), should be described as “purported”.
We only have the testimony provided by the actions of her husband and son, who sent her to a lunatic asylum designed for paupers, when they were in fact not poor and could have accommodated her in a better environment with better care, and thereby lengthened her life.
The lunatic asylum Bethlem was run by someone who had a close connection with Turner and mentored him as an artist, so it seems clear that the family used this connection to get rid of the mother, to get her away from them. As we do not have a clear and impartial doctor’s diagnosis, we cannot take as read that the mother had a mental illness, rather than being perhaps difficult to get along with.
I recommend that your writers read the article Dr Monro, Mr Turner, and His Mother, published by the online journal Hektoen International, before they continue to celebrate Turner’s legacy with such unbridled devotion.
Helen James
Worthing, West Sussex
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• This letter was amended on 29 November 2025. Owing to an error during editing, the earlier version said Turner’s mother died when she was 29, rather than when he was 29.
