J.M.W. Turner (British) (1775-1851)
Due to family problems, the young Turner was sent in to stay with his uncle on his mother’s side in Brentford, which was then a small town west of on the banks of the Thames. It was here that he first expressed an interest in painting. A year later he went to school in Margate in Kent to the east of London in the area of the Thames estuary. At this time he had been creating many paintings, which his father exhibited in his shop window.
He was accepted into the Royal Academy of Art when he was only 15 years old. At first Turner showed a keen interest in architecture but was advised to keep to painting by the architect Thomas Hardwick (junior). Sir Joshua Reynolds<, the president of the Royal Academy at that time, chaired the panel that admitted him. A watercolor of his was accepted for the Summer Exhibition of after only one year’s study. He exhibited his first oil painting in 1796. Throughout the rest of his life, he regularly exhibited at the academy.
He is commonly known as “the painter of light”. Although renowned for his oils, Turner is also regarded as one of the founders of English watercolour landscape painting.
He died in his house in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea on 19 December 1851. At his request he was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral, where he lies next to Sir Joshua Reynolds. His last exhibition at the Royal Academy was in 1850.