A reference to Turner, re-iterating the subtitle of Modern Painters I, as it had appeared on the title page of the first and second editions: Modern Painters: their superiority in the art of landscape painting to all The Ancient Masters proved by examples of the True, the Beautiful, and the Intellectual, from the works of modern artists, especially from those of J.M.W. Turner, Esq., R. A. ( MP I, 1843:iii).
Despite hostility to his later work, particularly from conservative periodicals, Turner's status as an outstanding landscape artist was not in doubt (see critical reception of Turner).