Joseph Mallord William Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 1775– 19 December 1851) was an English Romantic landscape painter, water colourist. Self portrait, oil on canvas, 1799
Turner is also one of the greatest masters of British water colour landscape painting. 'Ivy Bridge' painted by J. M. W. Turner in 1813
Arundel Castel, with Rainbow, 1824 He is commonly known as "the painter of light" and his work regarded as a Romantic preface to Impressionism.
Turner was born in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London, England. His father, William Turner (1738–7 August 1829), was a barber and wig maker. London Bridge
After his mothers death in 1804 the young Turner was sent to stay with his uncle, in Brentford, which was then a small town west of London on the banks of the River Thames. Eruption of Vesuvius, 1817
It was here that he first expressed an interest in painting. A year later he attended a school in Margate on the north-east Kent coast. By this time he had created many drawings, which his father exhibited in his shop window. Keyes Mill, Pembury 1796
He entered the Royal Academy of Art schools in 1789, when he was only 14 years old, and was accepted into the academy a year later. Fonthill Abbey from the South West, 1799
A water colour by Turner was accepted for the Summer Exhibition of 1790 after only one year's study. Transept of Ewenny Priory, Glamorganshire by J. M. W. Turner, 1797
He exhibited his first oil painting in 1796, Fishermen at Sea, and thereafter exhibited at the academy nearly every year for the rest of his life. Fishermen at Sea, 1796
Turner travelled widely in Europe, starting with France and Switzerland in 1802 and studying in the Louvre in Paris in the same year. He also made many visits to Italy, Switzerland, Germany. Orvieto
As he grew older, Turner became more eccentric. He had few close friends except for his father, who lived with him for thirty years, eventually working as his studio assistant. Chain Pier, Brighton, 1828
He died in Chelsea on 19 December He is said to have uttered the last words "The sun is God" before expiring. At his request he was buried in St Paul's Cathedral, where he lies next to Sir Joshua Reynolds. His last exhibition at the Royal Academy was in 1850.
At his request he was buried in St Paul's Cathedral, where he lies next to Sir Joshua Reynolds, the great English painter and his teacher. His last exhibition at the Royal Academy was in Mortlake Terrace, 1827
Turners last exhibition at the Royal Academy was in Turner was recognised as an artistic genius.
His subjects for painting were shipwrecks, fires, natural catastrophes and natural phenomena such as sunlight, storm, rain, and fog. He was fascinated by the violent power of the sea.