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J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851), was perhaps the greatest landscape painter in the history of English art. In many oil paintings and watercolours, Turner departed from traditional ways of dealing with atmosphere, light, and colour. Earlier artists had treated such elements realistically. In Turner's works, forms and outlines seem to dissolve into shimmering mist, steam, or smoke, or into the intense light of bright sky or water. By changing the way artists represented reality, Turner began a process continued by the impressionists and many other artists of the late 1800's and the 1900's.
Joseph Mallord William Turner was born in London. He began art training at the Royal Academy of Arts at the age of 14 and became an accomplished water-colourist. Turner's early paintings emphasize drama and romance. His oil painting The Shipwreck (1805) is an example. Later in his career, Turner stressed atmosphere in his pictures.
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