author
J. M. W. (Joseph Mallord William) Turner
1775–1851
Famous for luminous skies, stormy seas, and landscapes full of movement, this British artist helped change the course of painting. His work pushed beyond careful detail toward light, color, and atmosphere in ways that still feel strikingly modern.
1 Audiobook
The Water-Colours of J. M. W. Turner
by J. M. W. (Joseph Mallord William) Turner, A. J. (Alexander Joseph) Finberg, W. G. (William George) Rawlinson
About the author
Born in London in 1775, Turner showed artistic talent early and entered the Royal Academy Schools as a teenager. Encouraged by his father, a barber who displayed and sold some of his early work, he quickly built a reputation for watercolours and soon began exhibiting oil paintings as well.
Over time, he became one of the great figures of British art. He traveled widely in Britain and Europe, filling sketchbooks with studies that fed into paintings of mountains, rivers, cities, sea battles, storms, and shifting weather. Works such as The Fighting Temeraire, Rain, Steam and Speed, and his many scenes of Venice are especially admired for their glowing color and sense of motion.
Turner died in 1851, but his influence only grew after his lifetime. His late paintings, with their daring light effects and near-abstract atmosphere, helped open the way for later artists and continue to make him feel far ahead of his time.