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J. M. W. Turner · c.1807

J. M. W. Turner: 1775–1851

UnclassifiedUnited Kingdom
Other names (12)

James Mallord William Turner, J. M. W. Turner, J. M. W. Turner, J. M. W. Turner, J. M. W. Turner, JMW Turner, Joseph Mallard William Turner, Joseph Mallord William Turner, Joseph Mallord William Turner, Joseph Mallord W. Turner, William Turner, William Turner

Biography

Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 1775 – 19 December 1851), known in his time as William Turner, was an English Romantic painter and is regarded as one of the greatest British painters of the 19th century. His expressive renditions of light and atmosphere and bold use of colour in landscape painting inspired the early impressionists Monet and Pissarro.

Turner started his career as an architectural draughtsman and watercolourist and gained academic recognition as an oil painter. A child prodigy, Turner was accepted as a student at the Royal Academy of Arts at age 14 and had a rapid ascent to recognition, fame and financial success. By his early twenties, he was selling his oil paintings at top market prices to wealthy art collectors and gaining high praise from the academic establishment.

When he was 27 years old, Turner was elected as a Royal Academician, the highest artistic honour at the time, becoming one of the youngest painters to achieve this distinction in the Academy's history. In spite of these accomplishments, he was constantly criticised by a few influential critics in aristocratic circles because of his working class origins.

Turner's artistic style evolved during his lifetime as he never stopped experimenting with new painting techniques. He was a versatile artist and was able to emulate the different styles of Old Masters, producing works that generated admiration from Academicians and art critics. Early on, he started painting in an increasingly expressionistic style, using sketches from his extensive travels throughout England and Europe as inspiration. To complement his depictions of the ocean, rivers and mountains, he experimented with the representation of natural phenomena, like sunlight, storms, clouds, and fog. Turner's later landscapes became more abstract and were not well received at the time, but are considered masterpieces today.

Turner mastered different printmaking techniques, preferring mezzotints. He spent 12 years completing a collection of over 70 prints using this technique, which he called the Liber Studiorum or Book of Studies. While a commercial failure, it was influential in elevating the status of landscape painting; a genre that, before Turner, was considered of lower artistic value than history painting and portraits, according to the long-established hierarchy of genres.

Turner died a rich man in 1851, aged 76. He was a prolific artist, producing about 550 oil paintings and over 2,000 watercolours during his lifetime. He bequeathed to the nation around 100 finished and 200 unfinished oil paintings. His will included the donation of £140,000 in investments and property to provide financial assistance to painters, but it was distributed among his relatives after a prolonged trial. Many of his paintings are displayed at the National Gallery and the Tate Britain in London, among other museums.

Wikipedia contributors. Opening excerpt, formatted for reading. CC BY-SA 4.0. Source revision.

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J. M. W. Turner