Editing J. M. W. Turner (section)

== Biography ==
=== Childhood ===
[[File:DV307 no.70 House where Turner was born, from a print.png|thumb|upright|The house in [[Maiden Lane, Covent Garden|Maiden Lane]] where Turner was born, {{circa}}1850s]]

Turner's father William Turner (1745–1829)  moved to London around 1770 from South Molton, Devon.<ref name=blayney/>

Joseph Mallord William Turner was born on 23 April 1775 and baptised on 14 May.{{efn|Turner claimed to have been born on 23 April 1775, which is both [[Saint George's Day]] and the supposed birthday of [[William Shakespeare]], but this claim has never been verified.<ref name="shanes2008" /> The first verifiable date is that Turner was baptised on 14 May, and some authors doubt the 23 April date on the grounds that high infant mortality rates meant that parents usually baptised their children shortly after birth.{{sfn|Hamilton|2007|p=8}}}} He was born in [[Maiden Lane, Covent Garden|Maiden Lane]], Covent Garden, in London.<ref name="shanes2008">{{cite book| last=Shanes| first=Eric |author-link=Eric Shanes| title=The life and masterworks of J.M.W. Turner| year=2008| publisher=Parkstone Press| location=New York| isbn=978-1-85995-681-6| edition=4th}}</ref> His father  was a barber and wig maker.<ref name="dnb">{{cite ODNB| title=Joseph Mallord William Turner| url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/27854| first=Luke| last=Herrmann| date=October 2006| doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/27854}}</ref> His mother, Mary Marshall, came from a family of butchers.{{sfn|Hamilton|2007|loc=Chapter 1}} A younger sister, Mary Ann, was born in September 1778 but died in August 1783.<ref name="bailey">{{cite book| last=Bailey| first=Anthony| title=Standing in the sun: a life of J.M.W. Turner| year=1998 |publisher=Pimlico| location=London| isbn=0-7126-6604-4| page=8| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XGxIAQAAIAAJ&q=mary+ann}} {{subscription required|s}}</ref>

Turner's mother showed signs of mental disturbance from 1785 and was admitted to [[St Luke's Hospital for Lunatics]] in Old Street in 1799. She was moved in 1800 to [[Bethlem Hospital]],<ref name=blayney>{{cite book |last1=Brown |first1=David Blayney |chapter=Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775–1851 |title=J.M.W. Turner: Sketchbooks, Drawings and Watercolours |editor1-first=David Blayney |editor1-last=Brown |chapter-url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-1775-1851-r1141041 |url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner |publisher=Tate Research Publications |isbn=978-1-84976-386-8 |date=December 2012 |access-date=10 March 2016}}</ref> a [[mental asylum]], where she died in 1804.{{efn|Her illness was possibly due in part to the early death of Turner's younger sister. Hamilton suggests that this "fit of illness" may have been an early sign of her madness.{{Citation needed|reason=full citation of ref Hamilton needed|date=May 2019}}}} Turner was sent{{when|date=March 2025}} to his maternal uncle, Joseph Mallord William Marshall, a butcher<ref>Turner in his Time, Andrew Wilton, H. N. Abrams Books, 1987, p. 45</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://brentfordandchiswicklhs.org.uk/m-w-turner-connections-with-brentford-by-carolyn-hammond/|title=&#93; M W Turner – Connections with Brentford by Carolyn Hammond &#124; Brentford & Chiswick Local History Society}}</ref> in [[Brentford]], then a small town on the banks of the [[River Thames]] west of London, where Turner attended school. The earliest known artistic exercise by Turner is from this period—a series of simple colourings of engraved plates from Henry Boswell's ''Picturesque View of the Antiquities of England and Wales''.<ref name=Wilton14>{{cite book| last=Wilton| first=Andrew| title=Turner in his time| year=2006| publisher=Thames & Hudson| location=London| isbn=978-0-500-23830-1| page=14| edition=New}}</ref>

Around 1786, Turner was sent to [[Margate]] on the north-east [[Kent]] coast. There he produced a series of drawings of the town and surrounding area that foreshadowed his later work.<ref>{{cite book| last=Wilton| first=Andrew| title=Turner in his time| year=2006|publisher=Thames & Hudson| location=London| isbn=978-0-500-23830-1| page=15| edition=New}}</ref> By this time, Turner's drawings were being exhibited in his father's shop window and sold for a few [[shilling]]s.{{sfn|Hamilton|2007|loc=Chapter 1}} His father boasted to the artist [[Thomas Stothard]] that: "My son, sir, is going to be a painter".<ref>{{cite book| last=Thornbury| first=George Walter| title=The life of J.M.W. Turner| year=1862| page=8| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oWIBAAAAQAAJ}}</ref> In 1789, Turner again stayed with his uncle who had retired to [[Sunningwell]] (now part of [[Oxfordshire]]). A whole [[sketchbook]] of work from this time in Berkshire survives as well as a [[watercolour]] of [[Oxford]]. The use of pencil sketches on location, as the foundation for later finished paintings, formed the basis of Turner's essential working style for his whole career.<ref name=Wilton14 />

Many early sketches by Turner were architectural studies or exercises in [[Perspective (graphical)|perspective]], and it is known that, as a young man, he worked for several architects including [[Thomas Hardwick]], [[James Wyatt]] and [[Joseph Bonomi the Elder]].<ref>{{cite book| last=Hamilton| first=James| title=Turner : a life| year=1997| publisher=Sceptre| location=London| isbn=0-340-62811-1| chapter=1}}</ref> By the end of 1789, he had also begun to study under the [[topographical]] draughtsman [[Thomas Malton]], who specialised in London views. Turner learned from him the basic tricks of the trade, copying and colouring outline prints of British castles and [[abbey]]s. He would later call Malton "My real master".<ref>{{cite book| last=Thornbury| first=George Walter| title=The life of J.M.W. Turner| year=1862| page=27| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oWIBAAAAQAAJ}}</ref> Topography was a thriving industry by which a young artist could pay for his studies.

=== Career ===
[[File:Caerlaverock Castle by Joseph Mallord William Turner - Joseph Mallord William Turner - ABDAG000623.jpg|left|thumb|''Caerlaverock Castle'' ({{circa|1832}}), Aberdeen Archives Gallery and Museums]]
[[File:Joseph Mallord William Turner (British - Modern Rome-Campo Vaccino - Google Art Project.jpg|left|thumb|''[[Modern Rome&nbsp;– Campo Vaccino]]'', 1839]]
Turner entered the [[Royal Academy]] of Art in 1789, aged 14,<ref name="finberg">{{cite book| last=Finberg| first=A. J.| title=The Life of J.M.W. Turner, R.A| url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofjmwturnerr0000finb| url-access=registration| publisher=[[Clarendon Press]]| year=1961| page=[https://archive.org/details/lifeofjmwturnerr0000finb/page/17 17]}}</ref> and was accepted into the academy a year later by [[Sir Joshua Reynolds]]. He showed an early interest in architecture but was advised by Hardwick to focus on painting. His first watercolour, ''A View of the Archbishop's Palace, Lambeth'', was accepted for the [[Royal Academy summer exhibition]] of 1790 when Turner was 15.

As an academy probationer, Turner was taught drawing from plaster casts of antique sculptures. From July 1790 to October 1793, his name appears in the registry of the academy over a hundred times.{{sfn|Hamilton|2007|loc=Chapter 2}} In June 1792, he was admitted to the [[life class]] to learn to draw the human body from nude models.<ref>{{cite book| last=Wilton| first=Andrew| title=Turner in his time| year=2006| publisher=Thames & Hudson| location=London| isbn=978-0-500-23830-1| page=17| edition=New}}</ref> Turner exhibited watercolours each year at the academy while painting in the winter and travelling in the summer widely throughout Britain, particularly to [[Wales]], where he produced a wide range of sketches for working up into studies and watercolours. These particularly focused on architectural work, which used his skills as a draughtsman.{{sfn|Hamilton|2007|loc=Chapter 2}} In 1793, he showed the watercolour titled ''The Rising Squall&nbsp;– Hot Wells from St Vincent's Rock Bristol'' (now lost), which foreshadowed his later climatic effects.<ref name="wilton20">{{cite book| last=Wilton| first=Andrew| title=Turner in his time| year=2006| publisher=Thames & Hudson| location=London| isbn=978-0-500-23830-1| page=20| edition=New}}</ref> The British writer [[Peter Cunningham (British writer)|Peter Cunningham]], in his obituary of Turner, wrote that it was: "recognised by the wiser few as a noble attempt at lifting landscape art out of the tame insipidities&nbsp;... [and] evinced for the first time that mastery of effect for which he is now justly celebrated".<ref>{{cite news| last=Cunningham| first=Peter| title=Obituary of Turner| newspaper=[[Athenaeum (British magazine)|The Athenaeum]]| date=27 December 1851| pages=17–18}}</ref>

[[File:Joseph Mallord William Turner - Fishermen at Sea - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''[[Fishermen at Sea]]'', exhibited in 1796, the first oil painting exhibited by Turner at the Royal Academy]]

In 1796, Turner exhibited ''[[Fishermen at Sea]]'', his first oil painting for the academy, of a nocturnal moonlit scene of [[the Needles]] off the [[Isle of Wight]], an image of boats in peril.<ref>{{cite book| last=Butlin| first=Martin| title=The paintings of J.M.W. Turner| year=1984| publisher=Yale University Press| location=New Haven| isbn=978-0-300-03276-5 |edition=Rev.| author2=Joll, Evelyn}}</ref> Wilton said that the image was "a summary of all that had been said about the sea by the artists of the 18th century"<ref>{{cite book| last=Wilton| first=Andrew| title=Turner in his time| year=2006| publisher=Thames & Hudson| location=London| isbn=978-0-500-23830-1|page=27|edition=New }}</ref> and shows strong influence by artists such as [[Claude Joseph Vernet]], [[Philip James de Loutherbourg]], [[Peter Monamy]] and [[Francis Swaine]], who was admired for his moonlight [[Marine art|marine paintings]]. The image was praised by contemporary critics and founded Turner's reputation as both an oil painter and a painter of maritime scenes.<ref>{{cite book| last=Wilton| first=Andrew| title=Turner in his time| year=2006| publisher=Thames & Hudson| location=London| isbn=978-0-500-23830-1| page=28| edition=New}}</ref>

[[File:Portrait of J. M. W. Turner, R.A. making his sketch for the celebrated picture of Mercury & Argus (4674619).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Charles Turner (engraver)|Charles Turner]], {{circa}}1840, ''Portrait of J. M. W. Turner, making his sketch for the celebrated picture of 'Mercury & Argus' ''(exhibited in 1836)]]

Turner travelled widely in Europe, starting with France and Switzerland in 1802 and studying in [[the Louvre]] in Paris in the same year. He made many visits to [[Venice]]. Important support for his work came from [[Walter Fawkes|Walter Ramsden Fawkes]] of [[Farnley Hall (North Yorkshire)|Farnley Hall]], near [[Otley]] in Yorkshire, who became a close friend of the artist. Turner first visited Otley in 1797, aged&nbsp;22, when commissioned to paint watercolours of the area. He was so attracted to Otley and the surrounding area that he returned to it throughout his career. The stormy backdrop of ''[[Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps]]'' is reputed to have been inspired by a storm over [[the Chevin]] in Otley while he was staying at Farnley Hall.

Turner was a frequent guest of [[George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont]], at [[Petworth House]] in West Sussex, and painted scenes that Egremont funded taken from the grounds of the house and of the Sussex countryside, including a view of the [[Chichester Canal]]. Petworth House still displays 20 paintings, the largest collection of his work outside the [[Tate]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Petworth Park through Turner's eyes |url=https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/sussex/petworth/petworth-park-through-turners-eyes |website=National Trust |access-date=15 March 2025}}</ref>

=== Later life ===
As Turner grew older, he became more eccentric. He had few close friends except for his father, who lived with him for 30 years and worked as his studio assistant. His father's death in 1829 had a profound effect on him, and thereafter he was subject to bouts of depression. He never married but had a relationship with an older widow, his housekeeper Sarah Danby<!-- (1760 or 1766 (christened) –1861) -->. He is believed to have been the father of her two daughters Evelina Dupuis<!-- (1801–1874) --> and Georgiana Thompson<!-- (1811–1843) -->.<ref>{{cite book| last=Roberts| first=Miquette| title=The Unknown Turner| url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/jmw-turner/joseph-mallord-william-turner-1775-1851-r1141041| publisher=[[Tate]]|access-date=14 July 2014| isbn=978-1-84976-386-8| date=5 December 2012}}</ref> Evelina married [[Joseph Dupuis]] on 31 October 1817. It was recorded that her mother, Sarah Danby, was a witness along with Charles Thompson.{{citation needed|date=July 2022}}

[[File:Linnell - J.M.W. Turner.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Turner, painted from memory by [[John Linnell (painter)|Linnell]] (1838)]]

Turner formed a relationship with Sophia Caroline Booth <!-- (1798–1875) --> after her second husband died, and from 1846 he lived with her as "Mr Booth" or "Admiral Booth" in her house at 6 Davis's Place (now [[Cheyne Walk]]) in [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], until his death in December 1851.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.turnersociety.org.uk/Turner_biography.pdf|title=Turner Biography & Chronology&nbsp;– The Turner Society|date=2 December 2022 }}</ref><ref name="vch">{{cite web |title=Settlement and building: Artists and Chelsea Pages 102–106 A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 12, Chelsea. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol12/pp102-106 |website=British History Online |publisher=Victoria County History, 2004 |access-date=21 December 2022}}</ref>

Turner was a habitual user of [[Snuff (tobacco)|snuff]]; in 1838, [[Louis Philippe I]], [[List of French monarchs|King of the French]], presented a gold [[snuff box]] to him.<ref>{{cite web |title=Collection Online: Snuff Box/box |url=https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=74762&partid=1&output=People%2F!!%2FOR%2F!!%2F116764%2F!%2F116764-3-18%2F!%2FPrevious+owner%2Fex-collection+Louis+Philippe%2C+King+of+the+French%2F!%2F%2F!!%2F%2F!!!%2F&orig=%2Fresearch%2Fsearch_the_collection_database%2Fadvanced_search.aspx&currentPage=1&numpages=200 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130414113002/http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?objectid=74762&partid=1&output=People/!!/OR/!!/116764/!/116764-3-18/!/Previous+owner/ex-collection+Louis+Philippe,+King+of+the+French/!//!!//!!!/&orig=/research/search_the_collection_database/advanced_search.aspx&currentPage=1&numpages=200 |publisher=[[British Museum]]| archive-date=14 April 2013 }}</ref> Of two other snuffboxes, an [[agate]] and silver example bears Turner's name,<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.finch-and-co.co.uk/archive/antiquities/d/georgian-silver-and-agate-pocket-snuff-box-inscribed-%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%98joseph-mallord-william-tur/117264| title=Georgian Silver and Agate Pocket Snuff Box Inscribed 'Joseph Mallord William Turner' and the date '1785'| publisher=Finch & Co| access-date=3 September 2014| archive-date=29 September 2015| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150929161730/http://www.finch-and-co.co.uk/archive/antiquities/d/georgian-silver-and-agate-pocket-snuff-box-inscribed-%C3%A2%C2%80%C2%98joseph-mallord-william-tur/117264| url-status=dead}}</ref> and another, made of wood, was collected along with his spectacles, magnifying glass and card case by an associate housekeeper.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.philipmould.com/gallery/all-works/107| title=Spectacles, glass, snuffbox and cardcase of Turner 1775–1851| publisher=Philip Mould & Company| access-date=3 September 2014| archive-date=4 December 2014| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141204184229/http://www.philipmould.com/gallery/all-works/107| url-status=dead}}</ref>

Turner formed a short but intense friendship with the artist [[Edward Thomas Daniell]]. The painter [[David Roberts (painter)|David Roberts]] wrote of him that, "He adored Turner, when I and others doubted, and taught me to see & to distinguish his beauties over that of others ... the old man really had a fond & personal regard for this young clergyman, which I doubt he ever evinced for the other".{{sfn|Hamilton|2007|pp=319–320}} Daniell may have supplied Turner with the spiritual comfort he needed after the deaths of his father and friends, and to "ease the fears of a naturally reflective man approaching old age".{{sfn|Hamilton|2007|pp=319–320}} After Daniell's death in [[Lycia]] at the age of 38, he told Roberts he would never form such a friendship again.{{sfn|Hamilton|2007|p=356}}

Before leaving for the Middle East, Daniell commissioned Turner’s portrait from [[John Linnell (painter)|John Linnell]]. Turner had previously refused to sit for the artist, and it was difficult to get his agreement to be portrayed. Daniell positioned the two men opposite each other at dinner, so that Linnell could observe his subject carefully and portray his likeness from memory.{{sfn|Hamilton|2007|p=356}}[[File:Turners House, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, 1887 by Philip Norman.jpg|thumb|Turners House, Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, 1887 by [[Philip Norman (artist)|Philip Norman]]]]Turner died of [[cholera]] at the home of Sophia Caroline Booth, in [[Cheyne Walk]] in Chelsea, on 19 December 1851.<ref name="vch" /> He is buried in [[St Paul's Cathedral]], where he lies near the painter Sir [[Joshua Reynolds]].<ref name="blayney" /> Apparently his last words were "The Sun (or Son?) is God",<ref>{{cite book| first=Norman| last=Davies| title=Europe: A History| location=London| publisher=Pimlico| url=https://archive.org/details/europehistory00norm/page/687| date=20 January 1998| page=[https://archive.org/details/europehistory00norm/page/687 687]| isbn=978-0-06-097468-8| access-date=3 September 2014}} {{subscription required|s}}</ref> though this may be apocryphal.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Turner in his Time|last=Wilton|first=Andrew|date=6 November 2006|publisher=Thames and Hudson Ltd|isbn=978-0-500-23830-1|edition=01|location=London|language=en}}</ref>
Turner's friend, the architect [[Philip Hardwick]]<!-- (1792–1870) -->, the son of his old tutor, was in charge of making the funeral arrangements and wrote to those who knew Turner to tell them at the time of his death that, "I must inform you, we have lost him."{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} Other executors were his cousin and chief mourner at the funeral, Henry Harpur&nbsp;IV (benefactor of [[Westminster Hospital|Westminster&nbsp;– now Chelsea & Westminster&nbsp;– Hospital]]), Revd. Henry Scott Trimmer, [[George Jones (painter)|George Jones&nbsp;RA]] and [[Charles Turner (engraver)|Charles Turner&nbsp;ARA]].<ref name="Thornbury1862">{{cite book|last=Thornbury|first=Walter|title=The Life of J. M. W. Turner, R. A.: Founded on Letters and Papers Furnished by His Friends and Fellow Academicians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DPE4AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA418|year=1862|publisher=Hurst and Blackett|page=418}}</ref>