Editing J. M. W. Turner (section)

=== Style ===
Turner's talent was recognised early in his life. Financial independence allowed Turner to innovate freely; his mature work is characterized by a chromatic palette and broadly applied atmospheric washes of paint. According to David Piper's ''The Illustrated History of Art'', his later pictures were called "fantastic puzzles". Turner was recognised as an artistic genius; the English art critic [[John Ruskin]] described him as the artist who could most "stirringly and truthfully measure the moods of Nature".<ref name=piper>{{cite book|title=The Illustrated History of Art|first=David |last=Piper|publisher=Bounty Books|date=2004|isbn= 978-0753709696|page=321}}</ref>

[[File:J.M.W. Turner's Rockets and Blue Lights (Close at Hand) to Warn Steamboats of Shoal Water.jpg|thumb|left|261x261px|''Rockets and Blue Lights (Close at Hand) to Warn Steamboats of Shoal Water'', 1840, [[Clark Art Institute]], [[Williamstown, Massachusetts]]]]

Turner's imagination was sparked by shipwrecks, fires (including the [[burning of Parliament]] in 1834, an event which Turner witnessed first-hand, and transcribed in a series of watercolour sketches), and natural phenomena such as sunlight, storm, rain, and fog. He was fascinated by the violent power of the sea, as seen at the 1840 Royal Academy of Arts exhibition, where ''[[The Slave Ship]]'' (1840), and ''Rockets and Blue Lights (Close at Hand) to Warn Steamboats of Shoal Water'' (1840) were first shown. A 2003 exhibition at the [[Clark Art Institute]] suggested these two paintings were pendants, due in part to their similar content and size.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=James |title=Turner: the late seascapes [exhibition, Sterling and Francine Clark art institute, Williamstown, Mass., 14 June - 7 September 2003, Manchester art gallery, Manchester, England, 31 October 2003 - 25 January 2004, Burrell collection, Glasgow, Scotland, 19 February - 23 May 2004] |date=2003 |publisher=Yale university press Sterling and Francine Clark art institute |isbn=978-0-300-09900-3 |location=New Haven London Williamstown (Mass.)}}</ref>

Turner's work drew criticism from contemporaries. An anonymous review of the 1840 Royal Academy exhibition, later identified as [[John Eagles]], called the displayed paintings “absurd extravagances [that] disgrace the Exhibition”.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hamilton |first=James |title=Turner: the late seascapes [exhibition, Sterling and Francine Clark art institute, Williamstown, Mass., 14 June - 7 September 2003, Manchester art gallery, Manchester, England, 31 October 2003 - 25 January 2004, Burrell collection, Glasgow, Scotland, 19 February - 23 May 2004] |date=2003 |publisher=Yale university press Sterling and Francine Clark art institute |isbn=978-0-300-09900-3 |location=New Haven London Williamstown (Mass.)}}</ref> [[Sir George Beaumont, 7th Baronet|Sir George Beaumont]], a landscape painter and fellow member of the Royal Academy, described his paintings as "blots".<ref>{{cite book |last=Wilkinson |first=Gerald |title=The Sketches of Turner, R.A. |date=1974 |publisher=Barrie & Jenkins |location=London}}</ref>

Turner's major venture into printmaking was the ''[[Liber Studiorum]]'' (Book of Studies), seventy prints that he worked on from 1806 to 1819. The ''Liber Studiorum'' was an expression of his intentions for landscape art. The idea was loosely based on [[Claude Lorrain]]'s ''[[Liber Veritatis]]'' (Book of Truth), where Claude had recorded his completed paintings; a series of print copies of these drawings, by then at [[Devonshire House]], had been a huge publishing success.  Turner's plates were meant to be widely disseminated, and categorised the genre into six types: Marine, Mountainous, Pastoral, Historical, Architectural, and Elevated or Epic Pastoral.<ref name=blayney/> His printmaking was a major part of his output, and a museum is devoted to it, the Turner Museum in [[Sarasota, Florida|Sarasota]], Florida, founded in 1974 by Douglass Montrose-Graem to house his collection of Turner prints.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.turnermuseum.org |title=The Turner Museum |publisher=The Turner Museum and Thomas Moran Galleries |access-date=30 August 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100216031921/http://www.turnermuseum.org/ |archive-date=16 February 2010 |url-status=usurped }}</ref>

His early works, such as ''[[:File:Turner Tintern1.jpg|Tintern Abbey]]'' (1795), stay true to the traditions of English landscape. In ''[[Snow Storm: Hannibal and His Army Crossing the Alps|Hannibal Crossing the Alps]]'' (1812), an emphasis on the destructive power of nature has already come into play. His distinctive style of painting, in which he used watercolour technique with oil paints, created lightness, fluency, and ephemeral atmospheric effects.<ref name=piper/>

In Turner's later years, he used oils ever more transparently and turned to an evocation of almost pure light by use of shimmering colour. A prime example of his mature style can be seen in ''[[Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway]]'', where the objects are barely recognisable. The intensity of hue and interest in evanescent light not only placed Turner's work in the vanguard of English painting but exerted an influence on art in France; the [[Impressionism|Impressionists]], particularly [[Claude Monet]], carefully studied his techniques. He is also generally regarded as a precursor of abstract painting.

High levels of volcanic ash (from the eruption of [[Mount Tambora]]) in the atmosphere during 1816, the "[[Year Without a Summer]]", led to unusually spectacular sunsets during this period, and were an inspiration for some of Turner's work.

John Ruskin said that an early patron, [[Thomas Monro (art collector)|Thomas Monro]], Principal Physician of [[Bethlem Royal Hospital|Bedlam]], and a collector and amateur artist, was a significant influence on Turner's style:

<blockquote>His true master was Dr Monro; to the practical teaching of that first patron and the wise simplicity of method of watercolour study, in which he was disciplined by him and companioned by his friend [[Thomas Girtin|Girtin]], the healthy and constant development of the greater power is primarily to be attributed; the greatness of the power itself, it is impossible to over-estimate.</blockquote>

Together with a number of young artists, Turner was able, in Monro's London house, to copy works of the major topographical draughtsmen of his time and perfect his skills in drawing. But the curious atmospherical effects and illusions of [[John Robert Cozens]]'s watercolours, some of which were present in Monro's house, went far further than the neat renderings of topography. The solemn grandeur of his Alpine views were an early revelation to the young Turner and showed him the true potential of the watercolour medium, conveying mood instead of information.