Every January 1 since 1901, small crowds have gathered outside the national galleries in Dublin and Edinburgh. For just one month, precious watercolor paintings by the English Romantic artist J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851) are on view, gifts to both institutions from one of Victorian Britain’s greatest art collectors, Henry Vaughan. Turner was his favorite artist, and he took a special interest in the watercolors. When Vaughan died, in 1899, he left 31 of those watercolors to Dublin and 38 to Edinburgh. He also left rules. Each collection had to be shown annually, for free, and only during January, when gray skies and short days meant light would be at its weakest and therefore least damaging to the art. “The Vaughan Bequest has become a bit of a pilgrimage,” says Anne Hodge, the curator of prints and drawings at the National Gallery of Ireland, “to see Turner’s awe and wonder at the beauties of nature, during the horribly gloomy month of January.” —Harry Seymour