Turner, J M W

Turner, J(oseph) M(allord) W(illiam)

Detail of a self-portrait by J.M.W. Turner, oil on canvas, 1798; in the Tate Gallery, London.

(credit: Courtesy of the trustees of the Tate Gallery, London)

(born April 23, 1775, London, Eng.—died Dec. 19, 1851, London) British landscape painter. The son of a barber, he entered the Royal Academy school in 1789. In 1802 he became a full academician and in 1807 was appointed professor of perspective. His early work was concerned with accurate depictions of places, but he soon learned from Richard Wilson to take a more poetic and imaginative approach. The Shipwreck (1805) shows his new emphasis on luminosity, atmosphere, and Romantic, dramatic subjects. After a trip to Italy in 1819, his colour became purer and more prismatic, with a general heightening of key. In later paintings, such as Sunrise, with a Boat Between Headlands (1845), architectural and natural details are sacrificed to effects of colour and light, with only the barest indication of mass. His compositions became more fluid, suggesting movement and space. In breaking down conventional formulas of representation, he anticipated French Impressionism. His immense reputation in the 19th century was due largely to John Ruskin's enthusiasm for his early works; 20th-century critics celebrated the abstract qualities of his late colour compositions.