Joseph Turner - Impressionist Landscape Painter and Printmaker

Joseph Mallord William Turner was born on April 23, 1775 in London. An eminent English Romantic landscape artist, his paintings on canvas are well-known for the exaggerated and impressive management of light. The techniques developed by Joseph Turner in his paintings have contributed immensely towards the Impressionism movement of the nineteenth century.

Joseph Turner's father, William Gay Turner was a barber. In his early years his mother passed away and he was brought up by his father. Joseph received very little formal education although father taught him how to read and write. In 1789, at the age of fourteen, he joined the Royal Academy of Art schools. Turner, at that time was greatly interested in architecture, but was given advice by the architect Thomas Hardwick junior to pursue painting. His early works comprise mainly drawings and watercolours. In 1790, one of his watercolours was accepted for the summer exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art. Following this, it was in 1796 that Turner exhibited his first oil painting on canvas, entitled "Fishermen at Sea", at the Royal Academy. Subsequently, his works came to be permanent exhibits at the academy throughout his life.

At the age of twenty seven, he made his first journey to Switzerland, Paris and Savoy. He also travelled to Italy and was immensely motivated by the historical monuments, artistic works as well as the wonderful scenery. He made frequent visits to Venice, which inspired several of his most famous paintings.

Joseph Turner is commonly referred as "the painter of light", and was one who devoted his entire life to art. Turner used to observe the characteristics of the sky and the sea in varying weather conditions and the results of his observations are very evident in his paintings. Turner's technique was to decode the objects he observed into creative manifestations of his own romantic thoughts. He considered light as the emission of God's spirit and concentrated more on the influence of light on water, the shine of the sky and fire. As a result, his paintings were always filled with light. Additionally, people also formed an important subject matter in his paintings and indicated his affection for humanity.

The famous paintings by Joseph Turner include "The fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth to Be Broken up", "Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps", "Slave Ship", "Rain, Steam and Speed", "The Grand Canal, Venice" ,"Burial at Sea" to name but a few.

Turner became an eccentric during the latter part of his life. He kept aloof from academic conferences as well as from his associates. He used to conduct painting exhibitions, but declined to sell his works. He died on December 19, 1851 at his home in Chelsea.