TURNER AND THE Joseph Mallord William

SUBLIME Turner, the painter of light

LIFE AND STYLE
Joseph Mallord William Turner (23 April 1775 – 19
December 1851) was an English painter, printer
and watercolourist. He entered the Royal
Academy of Art when he was 14.
Since his first works, he was recognised as an
artistic genius: according to the English art critic
John Ruskin, he was the artist who could most
“stirringly and truthfully measure the moods of
Nature”.
He had a tormented personality, which was
largely reflected in most of his landscape
paintings, and was a drug addict. In the last years
of his life he suffered from depression after his Self portrait, 1799 ca.,
father’s death. oil on canvas, London,
Tate Britain
Turner was fascinated by the violent and tumultuous
aspects of nature, like in storms, agitated sea and rain.
In order to better communicate this impetuous living
force of nature, he both used oil paints and watercolour,
which created a particular effect of lightness and fluency.
The importance given by Turner to landscape is
witnessed by his “Liber Studiorum” (based on the “Liber
Veritatis” by Claude Lorrain), whose aim is to explore the
variety of all types of landscape (for a total of 71
paintings).
Fishermen at sea, 1796, the first
oil painting by J. M. W. Turner to be
exhibited at the Royal Academy
Turner’s artistic style is unique in Romantic Ages, it goes further classical
rules of paintings, which give importance to the subject and to the drawing.
The only important subjects of his paintings are colour and nature (never
man, as in all the other paintings). He is the painter of the sublime, which is
connected to nature, both in its violent and divine aspects.

In fact, Turner is remembered as the “painter of light” and the “painter of the
sublime”. His particular style is a sort of anticipation of the Impressionism.
 ROME SEEN FROM THE VATICAN
Turner made many architectonical
paintings, thanks to the «Grand Tour»
he did in Europe (for example in Paris
or in Rome, as in this painting).
He didn’t paint when he was in
Europe, but he only made few
sketches. Only when he was home he
painted based on his sketches but
most importantly on his memory.

1820, oil on canvas, London,

Tate Britain

In this painting, Turner represents the view of St. Peter’s Square from the
Vatican rooms, where he could admire Raffaello’s paintings. In fact, the
painter on the right is really Raffaello, who is preparing the sketches for his
paintings. So this painting is a sort of tribute to the famous Italian genius.
As in all Turner’s paintings, the subject is not man, but is the sublime. In
this case, not the sublime of nature, but the one of the Renaissance
architecture, in all its magnificence (in fact, the few people are very small in
 SNOW STORM: HANNIBAL CROSSING THE ALPS
This is one of the most famous Turner’s
paintings and it represents Hannibal with
his soldiers crossing the Alps during a
violent and terrifying snow storm, in the
second Punic war.
Also in this painting man loses his
importance, he’s not the protagonist: he’s
only a tiny and fragile part of the world, in
contrast to the immense force of nature.
1812, oil on canvas, London, Tate
Gallery
This composition is irregular, it has no geometric axes or prospective,
and breaks definitively all the classical rules of painting. The geometric
element which prevails is not the straight line, which communicates
tranquillity and regularity, but is the circle, which communicates
dynamicity, restlessness and strength: it is the impetuousness of nature
oppressing men.
Turner depicts the terrifying aspect of the nature, in front of which man is
absolutely motionless. This aspect of the nature can be found in

Bonaparte franchissant le Grand-
Saint-Bernard, 1801, oil on canvas,
Château de Malmaison, Rueil-
Malmaison
Probably Turner made a parallelism between
Hannibal and Napoleon, comparing the Punic
war to the wars Napoleon made in Europe. It
could also be seen as a tribute to David’s
painting “Napoleon crossing the Alps”.
While in this painting the subject is a man, in
Turner’s one the subject is nature in all its
violence.
As in “Rome seen from the Vatican”, in this
tribute we can see the respect Turner had for
the other artists, especially for the Classical
(Renaissance in the previous one,
Neoclassicism in this one).
Turner surpasses the classics and goes
beyond the classical schemes, but he always
had a lot of respect for their art.
(GOETHE'S THEORY) – THE
MORNING AFTER THE
DELUGE – MOSES
WRITING THE BOOK OF This painting represents the reaching of
GENESIS all Turner’s artistic research, especially
about the use of the colour.
This scene refers to the biblical episode
of the day after the end of the Universal
Deluge. Also in this painting man is
almost absent: we can only glimpse a
human figure in the background who
probably is Moses. Closer to the
observer, clearer than Moses, there is a
snake, symbol of the evil forces which
attack the human being.

1843, oil on canvas, London, Tate

Gallery
In this painting there are only two elements: light and water, in
which light is reflected. All this atypical painting can be seen as a
great symbol: man is once again a little part of nature, which
“builds always and always destroys” (as Goethe says in his
“Fragment about Nature”).
Nature is the expression of God’s power, who wraps man as nature
and light themselves (as we can see looking at the circular line of
colours which dominates throughout the painting).
Making this painting, Turner was inspired by Goethe’s “Theory of
colours”, in which the German writer states that it is light that
generates colours and not the other way around. According to
Goethe’s theory, warm colours communicate joy and tranquillity (as
in Turner’s painting), while cold colors communicate sadness.
Based on these theories, Turner always researched light effects
starting from colours.
This idea of Nature can be found in Wordsworth’s poetry (like in
“Daffodills”): nature has its own divine power and is a sort of
consolation for men. It is not a source of horror and astonishment,
but has a consolatory function and is a source of joy.
In Turner’s painting, nature’s the reflection of God’s love, which
LEGACY
William Turner died of cholera. He was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral,
in London, with other important people such as Winston Churchill,
Alexander Fleming and John Donne.
He left behind more than 550 oil paintings, 2000 watercolours and
30000 works on paper.
As a painter, he spent all his life studying all the possibilities of the
colour, in order to reach pureness in his works. Using colours, he
was able to represent the vitality of nature, especially using the
features of the light.
This use of light and colour is absolutely unique in Romantic Ages
and is the main characteristic of Turner’s art, which is an
anticipation of the Impressionist style.