US gallery films Turner locations

Turner painted Tintern Abbey in 1794

Parts of Wales painted by great landscape artist JMW Turner are being filmed for an exhibition about his work in the United States later this year.

The National Gallery of Art in Washington DC is shooting a documentary in Turner locations including Tintern Abbey, in Monmouthshire, this week.

Turner painted the abbey in 1794, during a decade which saw him regularly visit areas throughout Wales.

His collection extends to 350 oil paintings and 20,000 works on paper.

Carroll Moore, who is producing, writing and directing the documentary, has already filmed inside Ewenny Priory in Bridgend, which Turner painted in 1797.

He has also visited the south of England and parts of London associated with Turner's life, such as a house he built in Twickenham.

Aberdulais falls are among the locations Turner painted

Later this month he travels to Lake Zug in Switzerland, which Turner painted in 1843.

Mr Moore said: "We're visiting Aberdulais falls [near Neath] on Wednesday, which was a very important picture for Turner.

"Then on Thursday we visit Tintern Abbey."

The gallery's documentary will be part of an exhibition of Turner's work that is expected to open in Washington in October.

Turner was a regular visitor to Wales in the 1790s, when the French Revolutionary War made travel on the continent difficult, forcing British artists to explore scenery closer to home.

His first Welsh tour took place in 1792, when he visited south Wales, before his second trip saw him visit Flint and Denbigh in 1794.

He revisited south Wales in the following year, before a comprehensive tour in 1798 when he took in the Wye Valley, Cardigan, Aberystwyth, Snowdonia and Llangollen.