“The Shipwreck” , “The Battle of Trafalgar”, “The Burning of the Houses of Parliament” , The Snow Storm”, The attitude to human beings in Turner’s works

1. Turner, John Mallord William
(1775-1851)

2. Joseph Mallord William Turner
(23 April 1775 – 19 December 1851)
Turner is perhaps the best-loved
English Romantic artist. He became
known as 'the painter of light', because
of his increasing interest in brilliant
colours as the main constituent in
his landscapes and seascapes.
His works include water
colours, oils and
engravings.

3. Turner was born near Covent Garden
in London and entered the Royal
Academy Schools in 1789. His earliest
works form part of the 18th-century
topographical tradition. He was soon inspired
by 17th-century Dutch artists such as Willem
van der Velde, and by the Italianate
landscapes of Claude and Richard Wilson.

4. One of his earliest paintings is
“The Shipwreck” executed in 1805.
It shows his absorption
with the sea.

6. In 1806 Turner painted one of his most famous works
“The Battle of Trafalgar”. This is one of his most
gorgeous pictures.
The Trafalgar battle was the most decisive British
victory of the war and was a basic naval battle of the
19th century.

7. One of his narrative paintings is “Ulysses Deriding
Polyphemus” created in 1829. Here we can also see
his passion for light and color.

8. “The Burning of the Houses of Parliament” is a
mystic picture by Turner. It was executed in
1834 and when first shown it mystified people
but the impact was so undeniable that it was
accepted by the society.

9. A picture “The Snow Storm” created in 1842 was not so
warmly greeted. Here he had gone a bit too far ahead of
his time for his generation to be able to accept his
experiment, let alone understand it. “The Snow Storm” is
an attempt to convey the material power, the blind weight
of the snow.

10. Turner placed human beings in many of his paintings to
indicate his affection for humanity on the one hand
and its vulnerability and vulgarity amid the awe-
inspiring, savage grandeur of the natural world on
the other hand.
In some of his paintings Turner is vindicated as a
draughtsman of people.
All his characters are living individuals.