J.M.W. Turner Biography

Joseph Mallord William “J. M. W.” Turner is among the most famous British landscape painters. Perhaps more so than any other artist of his time, Turner helped to elevate the status of landscape painting, which had previously been considered inferior to history painting. In his later years he was increasingly concerned with portraying light in his canvases, often to great theatrical effect. His landscapes are often notable for their sense of the sublime.

Because of his masterful portrayal of light, Turner is occasionally grouped with the Impressionists, painters who took as a central goal the accurate representation of light in nature. Although Turner may be a precursor to Impressionism, his views and methods remained essentially rooted to an earlier, Academic tradition of art. He attended the Royal Academy in London, established his reputation there early on in his career, and even taught there for a period.

Turner achieved significant fame and success during his own time, although his work was not without its critics. He was at times accused of being overly extravagant, and his paintings were compared unfavorably to soapsuds or whitewash (among other things). But his admirers were just as vocal as his detractors. One of his most notable supporters was the young John Ruskin, who placed Turner at the forefront of modern painters in his 1843 book on that subject.

Turner’s output was prodigious. He left behind hundreds of oil paintings and thousands of watercolor sketches and drawings. His large body of work, his experiments with light and color, and his innovative approach to portraying landscapes during a period of Europe’s modernization have ensured his lasting reputation as one of the greatest British Romantic painters.