Joseph Mallord William Turner

{"Id":1137,"Name":"Joseph Mallord William Turner","Biography":"\u003Cstrong\u003EJoseph Mallord William Turner\u003C/strong\u003E (born in Covent Garden, London on April 23, 1775 [exact date disputed], died December 19, 1851) was an English Romantic landscape artist. His father, William Turner, was a wig-maker who later became a barber. His mother, Mary Marshall, a housewife, became increasingly mentally unstable during his early years, perhaps in part due to the early death of Turner\u0027s younger sister in 1786. She died in 1804, having been committed to a mental asylum.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EPossibly due to the load placed on the family by these problems, the young Turner was sent in 1785 to stay with his uncle on his mother\u0027s side in Brentford, which was then a small town west of London on the banks of the Thames. It was here that he first expressed an interest in painting. A year later he went to school in Margate in Kent to the east of London in the area of the Thames estuary. At this time he had been creating many paintings, which his father exhibited in his shop window.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EHe was accepted into the Royal Academy of Art when he was only 15 years old. At first Turner showed a keen interest in architecture but was advised to keep to painting by the architect Thomas Hardwick (junior). \u003Ca href=\u0022/asp/database/art.asp?aid=406\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003ESir Joshua Reynolds\u003C/a\u003E, the president of the Royal Academy at that time, chaired the panel that admitted him. A watercolour of his was accepted for the Summer Exhibition of 1790 after only one year\u0027s study. He exhibited his first oil painting in 1796. Throughout the rest of his life, he regularly exhibited at the academy.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EHe is commonly known as \u0022the painter of light\u0022. Although renowned for his oils, Turner is also regarded as one of the founders of English watercolour landscape painting.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EOne of his most famous oil paintings is \u003Cu\u003EThe fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up\u003C/u\u003E, painted in 1839, which hangs in the National Gallery, London. See also \u003Cu\u003EThe Golden Bough\u003C/u\u003E.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003ETurner 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 Venice during his lifetime. He never married, although he had a mistress, Sarah Danby, by whom he had two daughters.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003EAs 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. His father died in 1829, which had a profound effect on him, and thereafter he was subject to bouts of depression.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E He died in his house in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea on 19 December 1851. At his request he was buried in St Paul\u0027s Cathedral, where he lies next to Sir Joshua Reynolds. His last exhibition at the Royal Academy was in 1850.\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cu\u003ESource:\u003C/u\u003E\u003C/strong\u003E\u003Cli type=\u0022square\u0022\u003EDerived from an entry on \u003Ca href=\u0022http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Mallord_William_Turner\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003Ethe artist\u003C/a\u003E in the Wikipedia.\u003C/li\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cbr\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E\u003Cu\u003EFurther Resources:\u003C/u\u003E\u003C/strong\u003E\u003Cli type=\u0022square\u0022\u003ERead Stefan Brodski\u0027s \u003Ca href=\u0022/articles/2003/Best_of_ARC/best1.asp?msg=670\u0026forumID=9\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 class=\u0022link\u0022\u003Einsightful letter\u003C/a\u003E on J.M.W. Turner, giving the measure of his greatness as a landscape painter.\u003Cp\u003E","Awards":null,"HasAlbums":false,"HasPortraits":true,"HasRelationships":true,"HasArticles":false,"HasDepictedPlaces":true,"HasLetters":true,"HasLibraryItems":true,"HasProducts":true,"HasSignatures":true,"HasVideos":false,"HasMapLocations":true,"TotalArtworks":156}