Research papper about Landscape Artist J.M.W. Turner Essay

Research papper about Landscape Artist J.M.W. Turner - Essay Example John Constable, a contemporary of Turner’s, was of the opinion that â€Å"painting was another word for feeling†. A highly versatile and prolific artist, Turner created more than five hundred oil paintings and thousands of water colors, drawings and sketches, and numerous engravings over his long career of over sixty years. Turner developed quickly as an artist producing his earliest drawing in the 1780s. From the young age of fourteen he received training in art from the Royal Academy due to his enormous talent, and was made a full member by 1802. Turner’s penchant for serious reading of learned treatises on painting, literary and historical classics contributed to his vast range of mind (Rodner: 1-2). He won early and consistent patronage and popularity, though in later years some of his freely executed individualistic canvases met with controversy (Rodner:2). The Subject Matter of J.M.W. Turner’s Works: The artist covered an enormous range of subject matter, and was proficient in the use of both oils and watercolors. His paintings were extremely varied. Several works were on similar topics as a series of paintings on historical events, Biblical narrations, rural landscapes, industrialized towns, castles, rivers, marinescapes, rain, catastrophic storms and avalanches, Venetian land and waterscapes, sunsets and sunrises, sketches and engravings and many more. Turner’s versatility is seen in the many genres as well as schools of painting such as impressionism, post-impressionism, romanticism, etc. Turner’s life spanned one of the most innovative and influential phases of technological development. With industrialization came production and manufacturing, the expansion of cities, dramatic rise in population were great influences on his art. Turner’s watercolors of multistorey mills, fiery furnaces and polluted skies reflect the startling novelty of industrialism. The perfection of the steam boat, the introduction of the railroad, revolutionized