A descendant of JMW Turner is calling for Britain's biggest galleries to honour the terms of the artist's bequest, saying that he cannot contemplate leaving his own estate to the nation when his ancestor's own wishes have been ignored.
Ray Turner, 50, who is descended from the artist's cousin, said that without heirs, he would like to leave his estate to the Royal Academy of Arts or the Tate. "But the track record of those institutions and the … government is abysmal when it comes to respecting the wishes of Turner family wills."
Turner died in 1851 and bequeathed some 300 paintings and 30,000 sketches to the nation, stipulating in his will that they should be housed together by National Gallery trustees in a "Turner's Gallery". The fact that his collection, which is worth at least £1bn, is split between the National and the Tate (in a gallery named after a financier) is condemned by Turner descendants and other campaigners.
Ray, a former civil servant from Hedge End in Hampshire, is also dismayed that his ancestor's dream of establishing an almshouse for "decayed artists" has been ignored.
Although he accepts that his great-great-great-grandfather was among 19th-century family members who successfully contested the money bequest in the will, the Royal Academy did still receive £20,000 in 1856 – £1.6m in today's money. Ray Turner is calling for whatever is left to go to needy artists.
His criticisms are supported by Selby Whittingham, a leading Turner scholar and former curator of Manchester City Art Gallery. He discovered Turner's own sketches for an almshouse with adjoining skylit gallery in the National Archives.
"Turner – whose mother was in two asylums – planned a hospital" he said. "I visited the intended site at Twickenham. No one has taken an interest in that." Turner's vision was, he said, partly inspired by the Dulwich Picture Gallery and its original almshouses.
Ray Turner, whose estate is worth six figures, is now drawing up plans for a Downing Street petition, marking the 150th anniversary of the House of Lords report on the Turner Bequest, which supported Turner's wishes. "Its recommendations were never carried out," he said. "Parliament has never bothered to enquire into the matter since."
The Turner family's fight was boosted a few years ago when a leading QC scrutinised the will, concluding that "the collection has been retained and dealt with dishonourably". The QC believed the Turner family could be entitled to reclaim the pictures. Ray Turner is the first family member to have threatened his own possible bequest.
The Tate declined to comment on the issue, while the Royal Academy argued: "Turner's will was poorly drafted and any chance of fulfilling his intentions was ruined when his family contested it. The court … eventually awarded the Royal Academy £20,000, free of any conditions of use." It said the Royal Academy set up the Turner Medal for landscape painting in his honour, and has supported artists in need: "Most of the income of the fund went on this charity."
But Whittingham challenged that claim: "I have not heard of it awarding the Turner Medal for some years, and it no longer does anything for artists in need – Turner's main objective."