J. M. W. Turner, Petworth, Sussex, the Seat of the Earl of Egremont: Dewy Morning, oil on canvas, exhibited 1810, Petworth House
In 1799 Turner moved to 64 Harley Street, where he shared a studio with J. T. Serres, a maritime painter (though Turner later took sole occupancy of the property). That same year Turner was elected Associate of the Royal Academy; three years later, in 1802, he was elected Royal Academician. Critics and peers were already recognizing his extraordinary talent and potential. By any measure, he was a successful artist.
Wealthy patrons were also taking note of Turner’s artistic genius. In 1802, a consortium of noblemen sponsored a trip through France, Savoy, and Switzerland. As was his custom, Turner made extensive sketches and studies during his travels. Three weeks of the trip were devoted to Paris, where Turner studied and copied from pictures in the Louvre. This was the first of many visits to continental Europe, and in subsequent decades Turner traveled—repeatedly—to Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, France, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Bohemia, Switzerland, and Italy.
In addition to these travels, Turner also traveled extensively throughout his native England. As was his method, the work on these trips was often later used for finished paintings executed in his studio. Many of these trips also provided material for published books of engravings based on Turner’s sketches and watercolors.
In 1804 Turner began exhibiting his paintings in his own gallery, located on the corner of Harley Street and Queen Ann Street in London. Here he could display more of his works, and in more favorable conditions, than at the Academy. His paintings from this period often polarized critics.
Walter Fawkes, George O’Brien Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremot, and Sir John Leicester (who was building a collection of modern British art) were notable supporters, while detractors included several Academy members (including Benjamin West, the President) and contemporary critics such as Sir George Beaumont.
Despite these occasional attacks from his contemporaries, Turner remained a popular figure; if anything, he learned to use the controversy around him to his advantage, and his stature grew. In 1808 he was appointed Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy. After several years of preparation, he began lecturing in 1811, although the lectures received mixed reviews. Yet his teaching work, together with a series of prints he assembled called the Liber Studiorum (Book of Studies), demonstrated his great energy and commitment to his art, especially that of landscape painting.
Turner also continued making trips throughout Europe, sketching and producing watercolors that would form the basis of finished studio pieces.
J. M. W. Turner, Vesuvius in Eruption, watercolor on paper, c. 1817–20, Yale Center for British Art