King Charles made a private after-hours visit to Tate Britain on Tuesday evening, arriving shortly after the gallery closed its doors to the public.Staff quickly prepared for the monarch’s arrival as visitors departed the building.The King was described as “very keen” to experience the Turner and Constable: Rivals and Originals exhibition, which brings together nearly 200 works from private and public collections worldwide.The show commemorates a quarter-millennium since the births of JMW Turner and John Constable, examining how these two celebrated landscape painters competed and influenced British art.King Charles made a private after-hours visit to Tate Britain on Tuesday evening, arriving shortly after the gallery closed its doors to the public. | GETTYThe King toured the exhibition with curator Amy Concannon, who guided him through the collection.A Turner painting that had been lost for many years proved particularly captivating for the monarch.The work, titled The Rising Squall, Hot Wells, from St Vincent’s Rock, Bristol, depicts the River Avon during stormy weather and dates from 1772.Upon approaching the canvas, King Charles exclaimed “wow” before declaring: “That really is marvellous.”The King then enquired about other potential discoveries, asking: “How many others of these have they got lurking in Australia or something?”The King toured the exhibition with curator Amy Concannon, who guided him through the collection. | PAHis remark drew laughter from Ms Concannon, who explained the painting had resided in Tasmania before its recent rediscovery.The monarch’s enthusiasm for the exhibition reflects his own deep connection to painting, which he has described as so calming it “transports me into another dimension.”The King developed his artistic interests under the guidance of Robert Waddell, his art master at Gordonstoun school, with his passion growing through the 1970s and 1980s as he encountered prominent artists.He learned watercolour techniques from the late Edward Seago and received instruction from accomplished painters including Derek Hill, John Ward and Bryan Organ.The King is known to paint whenever his diary permits, carrying his cherished sailcloth and leather painting bag on royal tours in hope of finding time to practise. | GETTYThe King is known to paint whenever his diary permits, carrying his cherished sailcloth and leather painting bag on royal tours in hope of finding time to practise.The exhibition explores how Turner, born in 1775, and Constable, born the following year, were “pitted against each other” as landscape artists who took the genre in contrasting directions.Their competitive relationship reached a notable moment in 1831 when Constable deliberately hung his work alongside Turner’s at a Royal Academy show, inviting direct comparison between the two masters.Since launching at the end of November, the exhibition has welcomed more than 185,000 visitors through its doors.The show is now on course to become one of the “most popular shows” in Tate Britain’s history.