Joseph Mallord William Turner
(1775-1851)
Joseph Mallord William Turner, an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker, was born on April 23, 1775 in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London, England. As a child Turner was very talented. At the age of 12 Joseph was ordered to paint an engraving by Henry Boswell. His first teacher was Tomas Molton. Turner entered the Royal Academy of Art schools in 1789, when he was only 14 years old, and was accepted to the academy a year later. A watercolour of Turner's was accepted for the Summer Exhibition of 1790 after only one year's study. He exhibited his first oil painting in 1796, “Fishermen at Sea”, and thereafter exhibited at the academy nearly every year for the rest of his life. In 1802 Turner was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Arts. After that he visited Paris, where n Louvre he saw the paintings of old masters. Then the artist went to Switzerland. In 1804 he opened his own gallery. In 1807 Turner and his father moved nearer to the Thames. In 1808 the artist became a professor. After his father’s death in 1830 Turner didn’t marry and continued to live in hotels. Joseph Turner died on December 19, 1851 because of his old illness.
