The particular item which influenced this write-up is a book I purchased in a side street antique shop whilst on holiday in Nerja. We usually stay every year in Nerja for our vacations and we usually stay in some elegant Nerja apartments, some sophisticated villas in Nerja or perhaps a well known Nerja holiday rental accommodation. Anyway i’ll carry on with the article.
The actual artist John William Turner was born in Maiden Lane, Covent Garden, London in 1775. His dad William Turner was a barber and also a high quality hairpiece maker, his mother Mary Marshall grew to become mentally unsound, perhaps due to the loss of Turner’s sibling Mary Ann Turner at an early age in 1786. Mary Marshall passed away in 1804, after having already been committed in 1799 to St Luke’s Hospital and also after that to the Bethlem Royal Hospital, a psychological asylum in Beckenham otherwise generally known as Bedlam.
Turner accessed the Royal Academy of Artwork in 1789, when he was only 14 years old, and has been accepted into the academy merely 1 year later. Sir Joshua Reynolds, in those days was the leader of the Royal School, and also this individual has been responsible for admitting Turner into the academy. In the beginning, Turner indicated an interest in architecture but was advised to continue artwork by the well-known architect Thomas Hardwick.
A watercolour by Turner had been approved for the Summer time Exhibition of 1790 after only 1 year of studying at the academy. He exhibited his very first oil painting in 1796; the name of the painting was Fishermen at Sea. This proved a great success, to the point that Turner exhibited his paintings almost every year for the rest of his existence.
The most famous painting produced by Turner was without any doubt The Fighting Temeraire, a ship deployed in the actual battle of Trafalgar within 1805. The painting represents the demise of this well-known ship being transported to its final berth within East London around 1838, and eventually broken for scrap. Turner was well into his 60’s when the actual painting was finished and declined to sell the piece of art at any price tag. It was bequeathed to the National Gallery inside London.
He passed away in the home of his mistress Sophia Caroline Booth in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea upon 19 December 1851. At his own request he was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral, beside Sir Joshua Reynolds. His final exhibit at the Royal Academy was in 1850. The architect Philip Hardwick (1792-1870) who had been a great buddy of Turner’s and the son of the artist’s teacher, Thomas Hardwick, has been in overall control of making his funeral plans.
