Editing J. M. W. Turner (section)

=== 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.