Joseph Mallord William Turner

Life: 1775 – 1851 (1)

Country: England

Style(s): Romanticism

Works: Sun Rise Through Vapour (1807)

             Chichester Canal (1828)

             Sunrise with a boat between Headlands (1835)

             Approach to Venice (1843)

Quote: "You should tell him that indistinctness is my forte."--Turner’s reply to an unsatisfied buyer who said that the piece, Fingal’s Cave, was indistinct. (4)

            “My job is to draw what I see, not what I know." (4)

Fun Fact: Turner was known as "the painter of light," as well as "the great pyrotechnist" (4). Turner’s first known sketchbook was filled when he was staying with his uncle in Middlesex when he was only 14. When he was only 16, one of his oil paintings, “Fishermen at Sea” was hung at the Royal Academy (4).

          You are very excited to actually be meeting JMW Turner, the famous English Romantic! You have seen some of his paintings such as Rain, Steam, Speed the Great Western Railway, and Sunrise Through the Vapour. You especially love his Sunrise with a Boat Between Headlands, which shows the beautiful boats between the mist, and looks almost like a photograph.

            What you didn’t know is that Turner was practically a child prodigy. When he was only sixteen, one of his first oil paintings, Fishermen at Sea, was hung in the Royal Academy. Among his many nicknames were "the painter of light" and "the great pyrotechnist" (4). He tells you that unfortunately he doesn’t know anything about Chucky, but that you might have better luck with John Constable, another English Romantic (2).

Turner does tell you that he fully agrees with the idea that all art is formed in a continuous stream. He tells you that the style he paints in, Romanticism, was formed at the beginning of the 19^th century as a reaction to neoclassicism. Then he mentions that he knows of a good neoclassical painter, Ingres, and that you should try him for some information on Chucky (3).