Turner's Intention?

 

St Erasmus and Bishop Islip's Chapel, Westminster Abbey.

I look at prints of art works and see any number of variations of tonal quality in various reproductions of the same works.

Having spent a bit of time developing skills in accurate capture of colors in works of art, I wonder about the artist's intent.

Yet seeing so many variety, and with no access to the originals, I find myself projecting my own values into the works.

Predictably, that means a wider range of tones, and more emphasis on the dark.

Did JMW Turner truly intend this to be a high-key watercolor, as it is so often displayed online in today's world?

Or would he have preferred to see his darks more full of mystery?