J. M. W. Turner, Radley Hall from the South-East, 1789, watercolor on paper, Tate Gallery, London
Joseph Mallord William Turner was born sometime in late April or early May of 1775 in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London. Turner himself claimed his birthdate was April 23, although the exact date is not known with certainty. His father, William Turner, was a barber and wigmaker, and his mother, Mary (née Marshall), was from a family of London butchers and shopkeepers. In September of 1778 Turner’s parents had another child, a daughter, although she died just short of her fifth birthday.
Turner spent a fair amount of his childhood in the care of uncles, including stays in Brentford in 1785, Margate in 1786, and Sunningwell in 1789. The most likely explanation for these periods away from home is the deteriorating mental health of his mother, who would eventually be institutionalized at Royal Bethlem Hospital in 1800.
From a young age Turner showed signs of artistic promise, and there are drawings that survive from his childhood stays with uncles. Turner’s father encouraged his son’s artistic leanings and displayed the boy’s drawings in his shop windows (and sold them for a few shillings). The young Turner developed his habit of sketching on location at a young age, and this practice—sketching on location as a basis for studio paintings—would form his later working method.
Turner’s artistic studies were wide-ranging and included both formal and informal education. In December 1789 he was accepted into the Royal Academy of Art schools. His early studies there involved copying from plaster casts of ancient sculpture, as was the academic tradition. This was followed by life drawing classes, which Turner started in 1792. In addition to his own sketches and the Academy classes, Turner also did work for various architects during this period.
J. M. W. Turner, Rome: Part of the Ruins of Nero’s Palace, c. 1794–8, from Album of Copies of Italian Views for Dr Thomas Monro, ink wash and watercolor on paper, Tate Gallery, London
This was further augmented by working under Thomas Malton, the topographical draftsman, whom Turner later described as his “real master.” In 1794 he had also begun attending the evening “Academy” hosted by Dr Thomas Monro, an art collector and Principal Physician of the Bethlem Royal Hospital.
After several years of exhibiting watercolors at the Royal Academy (starting with A View of the Archbishop’s Palace, Lambeth at the Academy’s summer exhibition of 1790), Turner exhibited his first oil painting, in 1796. The painting, Fishermen at Sea, solidified Turner’s reputation as an artist, leading to support from prominent patrons and critics.