Turner and the Masters

Opened at Tate Britain today and had a very quick run round it at lunchtime. It's an absolutely stunning show. I had low expectations and thought you couldn't possibly rinse anymore out of the already massively over exposed JMW Turner. But I'm completely surprised and excited by this show which pits him against his contemporaries, heroes and friends.
There are some truly astonishing paintings here, including work by Rubens, Cannaletto, Poussin and Titian. The rarely seen Rembrandts alone make it unmissable. I particularly enjoyed the couple of works by Jacob Van Ruisdael, I can't get his 'Rough Sea' and 'Rough Sea at a Jetty' out of mind . It's also great to see a couple of, Nottingham's own, Richard Parkes Bonnington.
The show also confirms what I've long thought, that Turner can't paint figures for toffee; bless him, they're awful.