Joseph
Mallord William Turner was born in Maiden Lane in Covent Garden, London,
in 1775 (the actual day is uncertain, but Turner maintained it was Saint
George's Day, 23 April).
He
was the only son of William Turner (a barber) and Mary Marshall (who
was mentally unstable) and died in 1880 when Turner was only 5 years
of age. Turner's sister died a year later and Turner was sent to live
with his mother's brother in Brentford, Middlesex
Turner
showed artistic talents from an early age and when he was in his teens
he was creating great paintings, which his father exhibited in his shop
window. Turner's father always supported him and encouraged his talents,
he even became his son's studio assistant.
In
1789 Turner entered the Royal Academy - exhibited his first watercolour
a year later and his first oil in 1796.
He
stayed with with his father's friend, John Narraway, in Bristol in 1791,
and from then on until the end of the Napoleonic Wars made frequent
summer sketching tours in various parts of Britain. In 1794 he published
his first two engravings, and in 1798 began drawings for The Oxford
Almanack
He
was elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1799, and to full
Academicianship in 1802 and exhbibited his work yearly at the Royal
Academy until the year before his death in 1851. He revered the Academy
all his life, was a concientious member of the council and hanging committee
and was an auditor of the accounts. He was very proud to be appointed
its professor of perspective in 1807. He gave lectures at the Royal
Academy from 1811 until 1828 on landscape painting.
He
moved from Maiden Lane to lodgings on Harley Street in 1799, opening
his own gallery in Queen Anne Street in 1804; this he enlarged between
1819 and 1822.
In
1805 he took a house at Isleworth and was able to buy second homes in
Upper Mall, Hammersmith, from 1806 to 1811; Sandycombe Lodge, Twickenham,
from 1813 to about 1825; Cheyne Walk, from about 1846 onward.
Turner
made his first journey abroad in 1802, traveling through France to Switzerland,
and studying in the Louvre, Paris on his return.
In
1817 he visited Holland and Belgium and subsequently traveled more frequently
on the Continent (until 1845), less frequently in the British Isles
(until 1831).
Between
1819 and 1820 he paid his first visit to Italy, staying principally
in Venice and Rome; he revisited Venice in 1833, 1835 (probably), and
1840.
He
worked continuously for the publishers of illustrated books; his illustrations
appeared at intervals between 1827 and 1835.
Turner
made his reputation as a topographical watercolorist, sketching from
nature, mainly in pencil, the sketches serving as a repository of ideas
of which he might make use months or even years afterward.
For some twenty years, from about 1798, he maintained a liaison with
Sarah Danby, with whom he had two daughters, but he never married.
In
old age, following the death of his father and close friends, he became
increasingly pessimistic and morose, allowed the house and picture gallery
on Queen Anne Street to become dilapidated, and finally lived largely
in his cottage on Cheyne Walk, cared for by his housekeeper, Mrs. Booth.
There he died on 19 December 1851. He was buried in Saint Paul's Cathedral,
London.
His
art works can be seen in these Galleries and Collections
Fishermen at Sea (The Cholmeley Sea Piece), 1796, oil on canvas,
Tate Gallery, London.
Buttermere
Lake: A Shower, approx. 1798, oil on canvas, Tate Gallery at London.
Dolbadern Castle, 1799, pencil and watercolor, The Tate Gallery,
London.
The Fifth Plague of Egypt, 1800, oil on canvas, Indianapolis
Museum of Art.
The Passage of the St. Gothard, 1804, watercolor with scraping-out,
Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal, Cumbria.
Hero and Leander, National Gallery at London.
Dido Building Carthage (The Rise of the Carthaginian Empire),
1815, oil on canvas, National Gallery, London.
Rome from the Vatican , 1820, oil on canvas, Tate Gallery, London.
The Bay of Baiae with Apollo and the Sibyl, approx. 1823, oil
on canvas, Tate Gallery at London.
Sunrise Between Two Headlands, Tate Gallery at London.
Mortlake Terrace, 1826, National Gallery of Art at Washington
D.C.
Ulysses Deriding Polyphemus, 1829, National Gallery London.
The Burning of the Houses of Parliament, 1834, Cleveland Museum
of Art.
The Burning of the Houses of Parliament, 1834, Philadelphia Museum
of Art.
The
Grand Canal, Venice, ca. 1835, Oil on canvas; 36 x 48 1/8 in. (91.4
x 122.2 cm) Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The
Lake of Zug, 1843 Watercolor and gouache over graphite on woven
paper; 11 3/4 x 18 3/8 in. (29.8 x 46.6 cm) Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York
Landscape
with a River and a Bay in the Background c. 1845 Canvas H 0.93 m;
W 1.23 m RF 1967-2. Louvre Paris.
Conway
Castle, North Wales Watercolor and gum arabic with graphite underdrawing
21 1/8 x 30 1/8 in. John Paul Getty Museum
Long
Ship's Lighthouse, Land's End Watercolor and bodycolor 11 1/4 x
17 5/16 in. John
Paul Getty Museum Los Angeles
Van
Tromp, Going About to Please His Masters Oil on canvas 36 x 48 in. John Paul Getty Museum Los
Angeles
Fishing
Boats with Hucksters Bargaining for Fish Oil on canvas, 1837/38;
174.5 x 224.9 cm Art Institute of Chicago
Cologne:
The Arrival of a Packet-Boat: Painted in 1826. Oil and possibly
watercolor on canvas 66 3/8 x 88 1/4 in. (168.6 x 224.1 cm) Frick Collection
The
Harbor of Dieppe Dated 182[6?]. Oil on canvas 68 3/8 x 88 3/4 in.
(173.7 x 225.4 cm.) Frick Collection New York
Mortlake
Terrace: Early Summer Morning Painted in 1826. Oil on canvas 36
5/8 x 48 1/2 in. (93 x 123.2 cm.) Frick Collection New York
Woodcock
Shooting on Otley Chevin 1813 Water-colour with touches of gum varnish,
on paper (H) 28cm, (W) 39.8cm Wallace Collection London
Scarborough
Castle: Boys Crab Fishing 1809 Water-colour with touches of gum
varnish, on paper (H) 27.9cm, (W) 39.8cm Wallace Collection London
Hackfall,
near Ripon Circa 1816 Water-colour with touches of gum varnish,
on paper (H) 27.9cm, (W) 39.6cm Wallace Collection London
Grouse
Shooting on Beamsley Beacon 1816 Water-colour with touches of gum
varnish, on paper laid down on card (H) 27.9cm, (W) 39.5cm Wallace Collection
London
The
National Gallery of Art at Washington D.C. have these paintings
by Turner
A
Yorkshire River, c. 1827, watercolor on wove paper, 1986.72.19
Approach
to Venice, 1844, oil on canvas, 1937.1.110
The
Dogana and Santa Maria della Salute, Venice, 1843, oil on canvas, 1961.2.3
The
Evening of the Deluge, c. 1843, oil on canvas, 1960.6.40
The
Junction of the Thames and the Medway, 1807, oil on canvas, 1942.9.87
Keelmen
Heaving in Coals by Moonlight, 1835, oil on canvas, 1942.9.86
Mortlake
Terrace, 1827, oil on canvas, 1937.1.109
The
Rape of Proserpine, 1839, oil on canvas, 1951.18.1
Rotterdam
Ferry-Boat, 1833, oil on canvas, 1970.17.135
Venice:
The Dogana and San Giorgio Maggiore, 1834, oil on canvas, 1942.9.85
Related
Web Sites
The
Collection of Turner's Paintings in the Tate Gallery
National
Gallery London
