William Turner - Master of Light

Turner is perhaps the best-loved English Romantic artist. He became known as ‘the painter of light’, because of his increasing interest in brilliant colours as the main constituent in his landscapes and seascapes. His works include water colours, oils and engravings.

Turner was born near Covent Garden in London and entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1789. His earliest works form part of the 18th-century topographical tradition. He was inspired by 17th-century Dutch artists such as Willem van der Velde, and by the Italianate landscapes of Claude and Richard Wilson.

William Turner - Blue Rigi

He exhibited watercolours at the Royal Academy from 1790, and oils from 1796. In 1840 he met the critic John Ruskin, who became the great champion of his work.

Turner became interested in contemporary technology, as can be seen from ‘The Fighting Temeraire’ and ‘Rain, Steam and Speed’. At the time his free, expressive treatment of these subjects was criticised, but it is now widely appreciated.

Joseph Mallord William Turner - Snow Storm : Steam Boat off a Harbour's Mouth

Turner bequeathed much of his work to the nation. The great majority of the paintings are now at Tate Britain. Subscribed to an investment scheme which relied upon enslaved labour. In 1805, Turner bought one £100 share in the Dry Sugar Work Pen (St. Catherine parish, Jamaica), a cattle farm worked on by enslaved people. Turner would have expected to receive an annual income of at least £15, but the scheme failed in its first year and he lost his investment (S. Smiles, ‘Turner and the slave trade: Speculation and representation, 1805-40’, The British Art Journal , Vol. 8, No. 3 (Winter 2007/8), 47-54). Like many British artists of the time, Turner also had professional relationships with a number of patrons and collectors who were active in British slave ownership and trading and used their wealth to buy and/or commission artworks. ‘In 1840 Turner was represented by seven paintings at the Royal Academy, including another of his most famous works, Slavers throwing overboard the Dead and Dying—Typhon coming on, which is better known as ’The Slave Ship‘. This great icon of the anti-slavery campaign was given by his father as a new year gift in 1844 to John Ruskin, who wrote some of his most stirring passages in its praise, before finding it ’too painful to live with‘ and sending it to auction in 1869. The critics were almost unanimous in reviling ’The Slave Ship‘, and most of Turner’s other 1840 exhibits.

Turner - The Slave Ship

He left behind more than 550 il paintings, 2,000 watercolours, and 30,000 works on paper He opened his own gallery in 1804 and became professor of perspective at the academy in 1807, where he lectured until 1828. He travelled around Europe from 1802, typically returning with voluminous sketchbooks.

J.M.W Turner - Fishermen at Sea

Intensely private, eccentric, and reclusive, Turner was a controversial figure throughout his career. He did not marry, but fathered two daughters, Evelina (1801–1874) and Georgiana (1811–1843), by the widow Sarah Danby. He became more pessimistic and morose as he got older, especially after the death of his father in 1829; when his outlook deteriorated, his gallery fell into disrepair and neglect, and his art intensified. In 1841, Turner rowed a boat into the Thames so he could not be counted as present at any property in that year’s census.He lived in squalor and poor health from 1845, and died in London in 1851 aged 76. Turner is buried in St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Would you love to paint like Turner? Join us for our 10 week All-Abilities course and explore wide range of mediums and artistic styles. These art classes are suitable for all abilities, including complete beginners. We explore everything from architecture to portraits, using pencils, charcoal, pastels, watercolour, gouache and acrylics.