The life of Turner and some of his Masterworks

The life of Joseph Mallord William Turner was born in late April or early May 1775 at ’21,Maiden Lane, convert Garden, London. His father, William, was a wigmaker and then he started cutting hair since wigmaker went out of fashion in the 1770s. Little was known about his mother, Mary (nee Marshall). His sister had a fatal illness, when Turner was only eleven years old. She died in 1786 and a year before Turner`s sister was dead, he moved with his uncle in Brentford, in a small market in the west of London.

Turner`s second home at 26, Maiden Lane, Convert Garden, 1852, watercolour, British Museum, London. This place is also his birthplace.

The first move that Turner made was in 1786, by attending school in Margate, a small holiday resort on the Thames estuary. He did several perspective drawings there and he finished school by the late 1780s. When he went back to London he started working some different architects or architectural topography.

Thomas Malton, Jr influenced him on his work and he went for the second time to school at the Royal Academy in 1789. They did not learn much to paint but the paintings were intended on the curriculum in 1816. They drew, from plaster casts of antique statuary to some other works of the nude. They took about two and a half years to make the move and Turner exhibited for the first time in 1790, at the Royal Academy School. He participates some contemporary art until 1850.

In that era the Royal Academy did one exhibition every year. In the 1790 Turner moved in Oxford Street to learn a lesson to move his art into dimensions of light and colours previously unknown to paintings. He also created several drawings that consist on nature of watercolours. In 1791, he made some other works as a scene painter at the Pantheon Opera House in Oxford Street.

 The Pantheon, the morning after the fire, RA 1792, watercolour, Turner Bequest, Tate Britain, London. 

The Pantheon Opera house in Oxford street was burnt down by arsonists on 14 February 1792. 

Basically Turner was doing good work till in the 1793, the Royal Society of Arts awarded him from his ‘Great Silver Pallet’ award for the landscape drawing. The youth was selling works easily and in 1790s they gave them the opportunity by giving private lessons He met different Artists during 1794 and 1797, some of which made friends with. By the time, he improved in his Art works and did more works. Hid did several works that are Romantic Paintings and by the time he moved his art to impressionism and also to an abstract way.

This picture is an Attic in Turner`s house in Maiden Lane, Convert Garden, said to have been Turner`s first studio, 1852, watercolour, British Museum, London.

If we look at his master-works that turner made we cannot forget the first painting that he made. The first painting was ‘The Archbishop`s Palace, Lambeth’, that was made in 1790, by using watercolours. He exhibited this painting at the Royal Academy for the first time. It was a perspective drawing and he was influenced from Thomas Malton, Jr when he was just fifteen years old. I think that Turner wants to show the importance of the people and directions that they are going by putting a bright light and shadow. He also put importance on the buildings. The colours that he used were orange, yellow and brown and the mood was calm. In my opinion I think that he wanted to use blended colours to give a soft feel for the smooth façade of the buildings.

The Archbishop`s Palace, Lambeth drawing.

In the 1792 Turner drew ‘Tom Tower, Christ Church, and Oxford’. He used pencil and watercolour on white paper as a media. This drawing was never exhibited or sold, that is why it has remained in his bequest. He was inspired from Michael Angelo Rooker`s water colour. He first laid down a wash of a very pale yellow and after it dried he added a wash of light grey. To finish this painting he used a scale of eight tones of light brown grey to dark blue grey. Basically Turner used three colour scales and around twenty-five separate tones. This drawing is made when he was seventeen years old during summer, in the late afternoon sunlight. In my opinion Turner focused more on the tower since the other building are darker in colour. Although the work is very detailed still looks faded on the four right of the drawing I noticed four droplets on the building, unknown if it was intentionally or a mistake.

This is the Tom Tower, Christ Church, Oxford drawing.

In the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1796, Turner did oil on canvas drawing that is called ‘Fishermen at sea’. Before he made this drawing, in 1795 Turner visited this island and made pencil sketches of the bay in his ‘Isle of Wight’ sketchbook. Turner was influenced by the French marine painter Joseph Verner and while the shaping of the clouds demonstrates the influence of Philippe Jacques De Loutherbourg. During the time when Turner painted this picture, he was also strongly influenced by Rembrandt. In my opinion he used dark colours and touches of white to enhance the moonlight. Although we can see some flow of the waves, I noticed that very far out the sea looks calmer. I could not figure out if this painting was drawn before or after a storm.

This is another drawing called "Fishermen at Sea".

This drawing might be the last one that Turner himself could have painted as late as 1850. This work is never exhibited and it is called ‘Yacht approaching the coast’ although I clearly do not see this. The bright light was a resemblance of God that might have been at a time when Turner was passing through a difficult time in his last days. It looks like an abstract drawing and faded colours. His paintings became surreal into a sense that he no longer cared what the critics would say. It was almost as if he knew that he was about to move on to a place of higher divinity. In his last years the paintings no longer appeared to have detail as they became more abstract.

This is made by using oil on canvas that called "Yacht approaching the coast".

Turner died on 19^th December 1851 and was buried in St Paul`s Cathedral. Turner`s work had moved to Queen Anne street Wet and David Place, Cremorne New Road, Chelsea studios. He had more than two thousand paintings and water colours. We can say that Turner had left a beautiful work.  

The death mask of Turner at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Resource:

Shanes. E. 2004. Turner - The life and Masterworks. Third Edition. New York, Usa. Park stone press LTD.