Information about the life path of this artist is preserved not so much, and many of them are contradictory. It is known that William carefully concealed his life and intentionally distorted the facts of his biography. William Turner is an artist who believed that his work will tell about him the best. According to the generally accepted version, William's birthplace is London. However, the artist himself declared at different periods of his life as a whole series of regions of England. And there are many such contradictions in his biography.
Origin and childhood
We assume that Joseph Mallord William Turner (years of life - 1775-1851) was born in the British capital, London. The father of the future artist held a hairdresser. During Turner's time, these establishments were just as popular venues as English pubs. Father Joseph's barbershop was visited by poets, engravers and artists. Father hung son's watercolors on the walls for sale.
Training
Turner (his self-portrait is presented above) in 1789 was admitted to the school, operating at the Royal Academy of Arts. At the age of 15, William Turner first exhibited his watercolor at the academy. His biography was noted in the years of study at the same time studying and working. William mastered the technique in which topographic landscapes were performed - exact small types of parks, estates, cathedrals and castles. In addition, he worked on order - he copied the works of old masters.
Appeal to oil painting
The work of William Turner is not limited to watercolors. The artist in 1790 decided to turn to oil painting. In 1801, he created a painting called "Danish ships in the wind", which is an imitation of the Dutch masters. This work testified to the increased skill of a novice artist. It was performed so high quality that some even thought that Turner copied the old landscape.
Service at the Royal Academy of Arts
The artist in 1802 was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Arts. William Turner served her for the rest of his life. He lectured both for students and for the general public, took part in the organization of exhibitions.
"Landscape on the Thames"
Turner in the period from 1806 to 1812 created a series of sketches - images of the river bank. Thames. These include the watercolor painted “Landscape on the Thames” painted around 1806 (otherwise the work is called “Landscape with a White Rainbow”). Nature, the main and constant hero of the artist, in his mind more and more often presented not just as a stately spectacle. Against its background, historical events were played out. Turner portrayed a modern plot in the style of the Dutch marina. The theme of the picture is the death of a passenger ship. The image of the raging sea occupies two-thirds of the canvas. Whitish openwork foam forms a huge shaft on the surface of the sea. This is the composite core of the canvas. In the center of the shaft is a boat crowded with people. This is the only subject in the whole composition that maintains balance. A sailboat soars to the shaft crest on the right, which has finally lost stability. Lost dying vessels are located on the left and in the depths of the canvas. Their masts are broken, sails are torn off, and their decks are flooded with water.
"Hannibal crossing the Alps"
This picture was created by William in the year of Bonaparte's invasion of Russia. It is known that the latter was compared with Hannibal - the commander of the city-state of Carthage, who competed for dominion over the Mediterranean with Ancient Rome. Turner used his favorite trick in the composition: he inscribed the most dramatic part of the canvas into the oval. Flakes of snow, snowstorm twist into a large funnel, which draws the confused warriors into the crevice of the mountains. Surprisingly accurately written snowstorm. William Turner once observed her in a friend's estate. The artist sketched this inclement weather on a mailing envelope and said that after 2 years everyone will see this blizzard in his picture. The work was completed in 1812.
A picture with an interesting story
Over time, the technique of William’s watercolor painting became more masterly and more complex. In 1818 he created the work "First Class Frigate, restocking." According to eyewitnesses, the story of its creation is as follows. The son of William’s friends asked Turner, who was visiting them, to draw a frigate. William took the sheet, poured liquid paint on the paper. Then, when the paper was wet, he began to rub it, scratch it. At first everything seemed chaos, but gradually, as if by magic, a ship began to be born. The drawing was already in triumph by the time of the second breakfast.
"Liber Studiorum" and the design of books by English writers
Twice William Turner also dealt with graphics. In the period from 1807 to 1819, he tried to create a kind of encyclopedia of landscape in engravings. The artist gave the Latin name to this work, which means "Book of Studies" ("Liber Studiorum"). He intended to perform it on 100 sheets in various engraving techniques. William wanted to show how the development of landscape took place in European painting. This undertaking, however, failed. Nevertheless, Turner brought up a group of excellent engravers in this work.
In the 1820s and 30s, William worked on an order for the design of the works of English writers Walter Scott and Samuel Rogers. The books of these authors were very successful, so engravings from William's drawings hung in almost every English house.
"Ulysses Taunts Polyphemus"
In 1829, after a trip to Italy, the artist created one of the best historical paintings in his work. The work is called "Ulysses taunts Polyphemus." Raskin called this picture his "central work." "Ulysses" - a work that was called opera decoration, melodrama. It was noted that the sun floods the galley of Ulysses even in parts where its rays cannot penetrate in any way, and that the contrast between the brilliance of the morning sky and the darkness of the Cyclops cave is too great. However, William inaccuracies of this kind have never been embarrassed. He increased the size of the bells and castles, moved them to where it seemed to him necessary, if the structure of the picture required it. In addition, Turner often increased the sonority of color when the expressiveness of the whole benefited from this.
"Fire of the London Parliament"
The peak of Turner's craftsmanship dates back to the mid-1830s. William gave painting lessons at Vernissages, finishing his paintings here. In front of astonished artists and an enthusiastic audience, Turner almost completed work on the “Fire of the London Parliament”, a painting of 1835, in a few hours. The fire itself happened a year earlier, in 1834. A dramatic sight was watched by hundreds of people. Turner was deeply shocked by this raging element. Right on the spot, the artist made 9 watercolors. And a year later, on their basis, he painted a large oil painting.
"The last voyage of the ship Valiant"
This work was first presented in 1839. She is one of the best in the work of William. It is known that the artist cherished this work very much, was so attached to it that he did not agree to sell it for any money.
Turner portrayed the setting sun, against the background of fiery clouds from which we observe the movement of the "Brave". This is a warship, a veteran of the Battle of Trafalgar. A small self-propelled coal-black vessel tows a combat general to the banks of the Thames. Here it will be taken apart. Most likely, the plot of the picture was born in the imagination of William, and was not copied from life. The sad and lyrical image of a dilapidated ship personifies the past era of sailing ships. In addition, it serves as a reminder of the corruption of all things.
"Slave ship"
For several centuries, the slave trade has been one of the most important sources of income for England. Parliament during the life of Turner adopted a law according to which trafficking in persons was prohibited. However, for a long time, the spot on the conscience of the nation worried the imagination of poets, writers and artists. The picture is based on a real event. The captain who transported the slaves decided to throw overboard people who were ill with cholera, because by law he could get insurance only for those who died at sea. Thus, freed from excess cargo, the ship leaves the storm. Slaves thrown by him die in the waves. Their bodies are tormented by predatory fish, because of which water stains with blood.
Turner's later work
It should be noted that Turner's later works are written in transparent, light, quick strokes. The artist preferred light colors, loved white and shades of brown and yellow. He never used black and green colors in his works. Turner's work in the 1840s became increasingly incomprehensible to the public. The artist then drew streams of rain through which the contours of the steamship are barely visible (the 1832 painting by Staffa, Fingal's Cave), the slave ship from which sick blacks are pushed into the sea (the aforementioned Slave Ship work of 1840), or the racing train ( 1844 painting "Rain, steam and speed"). Thus, William rather unexpectedly and sensitively responded to contemporary events. The achievements of technological progress seemed to him exciting and poetic, and the actions of people - cruel and disgusting.
"Rain, steam and speed"
This work was presented at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1844. From the depths of the space filled with smoke and steam, a train rushes towards the viewer along the bridge over the River Thames. The contours of the machine blur, its details merge into a brown spot. This gives the impression of rapid movement. Contemporaries were skeptical of this work of Turner. Many of them expressed doubts about the reality of the depicted scene.
William's testament
William Turner, whose paintings were no longer popular, gradually began to lose interest in the public. He exhibited works less and less, hiding for a long time from fans and friends. William died, leaving a long testament to his descendants. His last will was to open at his own expense a house for elderly artists, as well as a gallery of his paintings. In addition, he wanted the Academy to create a class of landscape painting. However, it turned out differently: canvases, studies and watercolors are the only legacy that William Turner left. His paintings captured the wonderful world that the artist saw. They managed to immortalize the name of their creator.
Turner William Joseph, whose works are still of great interest all over the world today, is a recognized master, who is especially highly appreciated by the impressionists. In his work they are attracted by black and white effects, motifs of the sea and snowy weather, a wealth of shades of white. Although it should be noted that the type of "landscape disaster", so widely represented in the works of William, is alien to them.