If I could find anything blacker than black, I’d use it.
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner, the son of a barber and wigmaker, was born in London in 1775. As a child Turner made money by colouring engravings for his father’s customers. At the age of 14 he entered the Royal Academy. He exhibited his first drawing, A
View of the Archbishop’s Palace in Lambeth in 1790.
In 1792 Turner went on his first sketching tour. Most of his pictures during this period were cathedrals, abbeys, bridges and towns
The Archbishop's Palace, Lambeth - 1790
but in 1796 he became interested in painting pictures of the sea. He also began touring with his artist friend, Thomas Girton.
Like most artists, Turner was heavily influenced by the masters that came before him. After closely studying the techniques of Romantic landscape artists, both John Robert Cozens and Richard Wilson, Turner began to develop his own unique style. He spent time studying at the Louvre, viewing the work of other artists. His greatest influence however, came during his travels when he witnessed nature and all its grandeur live and in person. Turner’s watercolor paintings provided a later influence on his technique with oil paint. He started to use oil paint in a translucent manner, similar to the effect of water color, which helped produce his original style.
By 1800 Turner was acknowledged as one of Britain’s leading topographical watercolourist. He received several commissions to illustrate books. His artistic ability was recognised when he was elected an associate of the Royal Academy.
In 1803 Turner’s style changed. His impressionistic Calais Pier was criticised as being unfinished. For the next few years he was attacked by the critics and he had difficulty selling his paintings. One critic called Turner’s landscapes “pictures of nothing, and very alike.” Turner had his supporters, including John Ruskin, who described his paintings as “true, beautiful and intellectual”.
Calais Pier - 1803
In 1844 Turner turned his attention to railways and painted Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway.
J. M. W. Turner died at his cottage in Chelsea in 1851. He was 76 years old. At his request he was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral. He left some three hundred paintings and nineteen thousand watercolours to the nation.
The Turner Society was founded in 1975 and has members worldwide. It is devoted to furthering the appreciation and understanding of the art of Joseph Mallord William Turner, who was not only Britain’s greatest painter but arguably the
Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway - 1844
finest landscape and marine painter ever. Turner was enormously prolific, producing some 550 oil paintings, over 2,000 highly detailed and finely finished watercolours, and some 30,000 works on paper. His bequest to the nation is without doubt the greatest artistic legacy ever bestowed upon the United Kingdom (it is housed in Tate Britain, London, except for a few key works kept at the National Gallery).
