Joseph Mallord William Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner (English: Joseph Mallord William Turner, April 23, 1775 - December 19, 1851) was a British printmaker and watercolor painter during the Romantic period. He was famous for his rich use of color, landscape paintings and marine art. His artistic style evolved over time, moving away from Romanticism and skipping over the rise of realism at the time, culminating in later works that foreshadowed the emergence of Impressionism and abstraction, movements that would flourish in the decades after his death. He left more than 550 oil paintings, 2,000 watercolors and 30,000 works on paper during his lifetime. From 1840 onwards, he was highly praised by the art critic John Ruskin, and today he is widely regarded as an important artist who elevated landscape painting to the same level as historical painting. Turner was born in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London, from a lower-middle-class family. He retained the accent unique to this class throughout his life and deliberately avoided the aura and social circle that came with becoming famous. In 1789, Turner entered the Royal Academy of Art, where he exhibited his works for the first time at the age of 15. During this period he also worked as an architectural draftsman. Turner maintained a stable income by accepting commissions and selling works, but due to his withdrawn and rebellious personality, he was often reluctant to sell paintings. In 1804 he opened his own gallery and served as professor of perspective at the Royal Academy from 1807 to 1828. Since 1802, he traveled around Europe many times, bringing back a large number of sketchbooks from each trip. Introverted, eccentric and maverick, Turner was surrounded by controversy throughout his life. He never married, but he had two daughters with the widow Sarah Danby: Evelina (1801–1874) and Georgiana (1811–1843). After his father's death in 1829, he became more pessimistic and melancholy, the gallery gradually became deserted, and his painting style became more intense. In 1841, he rowed into the Thames to avoid being registered at any address in the census that year. From 1845 onwards, he lived in a state of extreme poverty and deteriorating health, eventually dying in London in 1851 at the age of 76. He is buried in St Paul's Cathedral, London.