Turner film, exhibition reveal British master to a new generation

With an epic sweep worthy of a J.M.W. Turner masterpiece, a new portrayal of one of Britain's greatest painters is winning the Romantic artist a new generation of admirers.

Joseph Mallord William Turner overturned 19th century conventions by painting the vitality of his age, challenging the boundaries of realism and abstraction with a boldness that prefaced Impressionist greats such as Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro.

More than 150 years after Turner's death in 1851, Mike Leigh's film Mr Turner explores the life of the grunting London-born son of a barber who used rags, spit and his thumbnail to create some of Britain's most impressive paintings.