Joseph Mallord William “J. M. W.” Turner (1775 – 1851)
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
J. M. W. Turner, Self-Portrait, oil on canvas, about 1799, Tate Gallery, London |
1775 | Born in Maiden Lane, Convent Garden, London. Turner claimed his birthdate was 23 April, although this is not known with certainty. His parents were William Turner, a barber and wigmaker, and Mary Marshall, who came from a family of butchers. |
| 1778 | A sister, Mary Ann, is born in September. She dies in 1783, shortly before her fifth birthday. |
| 1785 | Sent to live with his maternal uncle in Brentford, possibly because of his mother’s deteriorating mental health. |
| 1786 | Sent to Margate, a seaside town on the coast in East Kent, where he lives and attends school for a period. Produces drawings of the town and surrounding area. At this time his father begins exhibiting some of the young Turner’s drawings in his shop window and selling them for a few shillings. |
| 1789 | Stays with an uncle in Sunningwell, just south of Oxford. He continues his practice of making pencil sketches of his surroundings. In December he enters the Royal Academy of Art schools. |
| 1790 | Formally admitted into the Royal Academy. He is only 15 years old. A watercolor of his, A View of the Archbishop’s Palace, Lambeth, is accepted for the Royal Academy summer exhibition. |
| 1792 | Admitted to life drawing classes to learn how to draw the human body. Previously he had studied from plaster casts of ancient sculptures, as was typical academic practice. |
| 1794 | Begins attending the evening “Academy” hosted by Dr Thomas Monro, an art collector and Principal Physician of the Bethlem Royal Hospital. Artists would come to study and copy the works in Dr Monro’s collection. |
J. M. W. Turner, Fishermen at Sea, oil on canvas, exhibited 1796, Tate Gallery, London |
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| 1796 | Exhibits his first oil painting at the academy: Fishermen at Sea. Contemporary critics praised the painting, solidifying Turner’s reputation as both an artist and a painter of maritime subjects. |
| 1799 | Elected Associate of the Royal Academy. Moves to 64 Harley Street, where he shares a studio with J. T. Serres, a maritime painter. By 1804 Turner takes sole occupancy of the property. |
| 1802 | Elected Royal Academician. Visits Paris, where he studies the works of Old Masters in the Louvre. Also travels to the Swiss Alps. |
| 1804 | Opens a gallery on the corner of Harley Street and Queen Ann Street. Early exhibitions included watercolors made from drawings done during his travels of 1802 and English landscape scenes. His mother dies this year in Royal Bethlem Hospital, where she had been committed in 1800. |
J. M. W. Turner, Bridge and Cows, from Liber Studiorum 1807-1819 Watercolours, c. 1806-7, graphite and watercolor on paper, Tate Gallery, London |
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| Date | Event |
|---|---|
William Havell, Sandycombe Lodge, Twickenham, Villa of J.M.W. Turner, engraved by W.B. Cooke, published 1814, Tate Gallery, London |
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| 1808 | Appointed Professor of Perspective at the Royal Academy. |
| 1811 | Begins lecturing in his position at the Royal Academy, following a long period of preparation. |
| 1813 | Visits Devon in the summer, where he makes oil sketches outdoors. Watercolors made on this trip, as well as on earlier visits to Sussex, Kent, and the West Country, provided material for a series of engravings published from 1814–26, titled Picturesque Views on the Southern Coast of England. |
| 1817 | Visits Holland, Belgium, and the Rhineland. |
| 1819 | Sir John Leicester, who had been forming a gallery of modern British art, opens his house to the public. On display are several important works by Turner, whom Leicester had long admired. Turner makes a visit to Italy this year, travelling to Venice, Rome, and Naples. |
| 1821 | Begins a series of visits to France, exploring Seine during visits from 1821–32 and the Loire in a visit of 1826. |
| 1822 | Turner’s Gallery, which had been closed for a time for improvements, is reopened. In its new form it becomes less a place to display new paintings and more of a museum, intended to highlight a representative collection of the artist’s works. |
| 1826 | Sells Sandycombe Lodge. |
| 1829 | The artist’s father, who had been Turner’s close companion, dies in September. Turner is deeply affected, leading to increasing isolation. |
| 1833 | Three volumes of prints based on Turner’s travels in France are published from 1833–35, titled Wanderings by the Loire and Seine. This year he also begins an extensive visit to continental Europe, which includes trips to Berlin, Dresden, Prague, Vienna, and Venice. |
| 1839 | Tours Belgium, Luxembourg, and Germany. |
| 1843 | John Ruskin, who had met Turner in 1840, publishes volume one of his book Modern Painters. Turner is placed at the forefront by Ruskin. |
J. M. W. Turner, The Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing overboard the Dead and Dying—Typhoon coming on), oil on canvas, 1840, Boston MFA |
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| 1846 | Moves to 6 Davis Place, on Cremorne New Road, with Sophia Caroline Booth, a widower, and her son John. Turner and Booth developed a relationship following her husband’s death in 1833. |
| 1847 | Turner’s painting, The Dogano, San Giorgio, Citella, from the Steps of the Europa, becomes the artist’s first work to hang in the National Gallery. |
J. M. W. Turner, The Dogano, San Giorgio, Citella, from the Steps of the Europa, oil on canvas, exhibited 1842, Tate Gallery, London |
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| 1851 | Dies on the morning of 19 December. His body is taken to his gallery at 47 Queen Anne Street for the lying-in-state. He is buried in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral on 30 December, per his wishes. |