J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner, more commonly referred to as J. M. W. Turner, was an English artist who lived from 1775 to 1851. He is mostly associated with the Romanticism movement that spread through Europe at the end of the eighteenth century. Turner is arguably one of the greatest British artists who ever lived. In his time, he revolutionized the art world, bringing new prestige to landscape painting, rivaling the great history paintings that were seen as the epitome of art at that time.
J. M. W. Turner was born in London into a family of modest means. When he was around 10 years old, his mother was admitted into a mental hospital, and he was sent to live with his uncle where he first started drawing. Most of his work focused on architectural features and perspective studies. His art advanced so quickly that by age 11, his father was selling his son’s drawings in his barber/wig shop for a few shillings, bragging to customers that “My son, sir, is going to be a painter”.
At just age 15, Turner was admitted to the prestigious Royal Academy of Art and his first watercolor painting he made while at the academy was shown at the Royal Academy summer exhibition. Though he was also drawn to architecture in these early days, painting won out. Turner spent the summers travelling around Britain and sketching his travels, and he spent his winters painting in the studio. He showed his work throughout his time at the Academy. Turner was recognized by his peers as a genius in his time, though he was also quite eccentric and reclusive. One of his main inspirations was the work of the Italian Baroque artist, Salvator Rosa. Rosa first brought unique, dark, and rugged depictions into landscapes, spurring the Romanticism movement.
The artist traveled throughout his adult life, but always kept London as his home base. Adding to his eccentricity, he never lost the cockney accent he was born with, as other artists who acquired fame sought to do. One thing he retained throughout his entire life was a love of theater and the opera. Turner’s father lived with him and was his studio assistant for 30 years until his father died. Turner never married, though he did have a long-term relationship with his housekeeper with whom he fathered two daughters. His father was his closest friend and after his father died in 1829, his outlook became darker, and he took poor care of himself and his household. J. M. W. Turner passed away at 76 years of age, with his last words reported to be, “The sun is God.”
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