Paintings and sketches by Turner were being returned today to the country house in Sussex where he created them 180 years ago.

The finishing touches were being put to the exhibition, which is on loan from the Tate Collection to Petworth House.

The Turner at Petworth exhibition includes more than 70 watercolours, oil paintings and small sketches which are rarely seen in public because they are so fragile.

Visitors to the house, which was given to the National Trust in 1947, can also view 20 Turner oil paintings which make up the largest collection of his oils outside a museum or gallery.

In all, J M W Turner, who lived from 1775 to 1851, made more than 100 sketches of the country house and its surrounding landscape during the 1820s.

The reclusive artist was often at Petworth House as a guest of his patron, the Third Earl of Egremont. The strength of their relationship was illustrated in 1837 when Turner was one of the chief mourners at the Earl's funeral.

The exhibition, running from Saturday to September 29, coincides with the culmination of a £500,000 ten-year National Trust refurbishment project.

It includes the restoration of the Carved Room and Red Room to their appearance in the 1830s. Four landscapes commissioned by the Earl in the late 1820s specifically for the Carved Room have been returned to the exact positions they were intended for.

A National Trust spokesman said: "Turner at Petworth reveals the artist's colourful, impressionistic scenes of the house with delightful, informal views of landscapes and family life.

"In rapidly executed, lively sketches, he depicts interiors and inhabitants reading, talking and posing for portraits."

People will also be allowed limited access to the studio used by Turner and other artists in the Old Library at the house.

Alongside the exhibition, Langlands and Bell at Petworth: the Turner studio residency exhibition will feature new work by artists Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell who have been working in Turner's old studio.