The beginning of Joseph Mallord William Turner’s story is like most other artists, he however would become England's greatest landscape painter of all time. His family situation, however, is not. His father, a barber, had no known interest in art and his mother was mentally unstable, being placed in the Bethlehem Hospital for the Insane in 1799 and dying there five years later. He has one sibling, a sister, who had a illness that caused her death in 1786. That year young Turner was sent to live with his uncle. It may have been a gift from his uncle, but his first sketchbook was also being worked in at this time. The small 6"x10" book was filled with old buildings and landscapes. Those works may have been inspired by his first drawing teacher, Thomas Malton, a landscape painter who had a flair for architectural design. He was a creative youth. "The mind of the people is like mud, from which arise strange and beautiful things." He got involved with Sarah Danby, a singer and actress, in about 1799. Her husband had just died and they became involved. Over their twenty year relationship they had two daughters, Evelina and Georgiana, but they never married. He never had any sort or desire to form a relationship with them, he was too focused on developing his art career.

Turner was an artist that would go on to create over 20,000 paintings and drawings in his life, but his training had to start somewhere. Respected academic artist who made a name for himself as a disaster scent painter, Philippe de Loutherbourg, worked with developing young Turner. He hired the sixteen year old Turner to help paint sets at the opera house. Formal training began at the Royal Academy School. He began classes in 1798 (also where he probably met Sarah). Artistically, he was influenced by the watercolor paintings done by Robert Cozens. He was a patient of Dr. Thomas Monro at the Mental Institution. Turner and fellow artist, Thomas Girtin, who worked to copy the works in exchange for oyster suppers and meetings with Cozens. Most of Turner’s money was earned by selling watercolors and engravings, however he was criticized for their lack of finish. His artwork was first widely seen after two of his engravings were published in 1794. He began to dabble in oil around 1795. He also enjoyed the paintings of Nicolas Poussin very much. This inspired him to use colors more freely.

Through his training at the Academy and the skills he had developed, he was given many opportunities. He first traveled abroad to study at the Louvre in France and went on to Switzerland. Later, in about 1820, he studied in Rome, Italy when he was forty-five. He was able to travel a lot over the years. He was appointed a professor of perspective at the Academy in 1807. In 1803 he began the process of building his own gallery. He had been saving up his money for a while and was beginning to get a reputation as a tight-wad. Once things were up and running, his father closed his shop to work in his son’s gallery as his business manager. As a matter of fact, Turner was insistent on his dad making the eleven mile trip each morning to open the gallery. Being a generally anti-social person, J.M.W. was likely wanted his dad to work with customers and sales. When comfortable, it is said that he was a very happy guy, but with new people he was very serious and constantly on guard. He was so focused on his artistic goals that he neglected human contacts. It was Turner’s goal to take landscape painting to an art level that was greater than the popular history painting of the time.

Often times when asked about the incorrect adornments of the ships in his paintings, Turner would say," ... my job is to draw what I see, not what I know." What great advice to other generations of artists. In my mind, his first great work was Slave Ship. It was a controversial painting because of its extremely political stance. Turner was disgusted at the thought of slavery and fought against it. He also hated the painting. That was its intent, for people to hate it and all it showed. It attacked the morality of the British in a very in your face manner. As we look at the work, we are first shocked with the people in the water. Live cargo was insured. People in the business of selling slaves could not collect a cent for a dead slave on land. However, if they were lost at sea, they would be compensated for their loss. This calm water is getting rough from the violent hurricane in the distance. This is showing God's anger with human choices. The drowning people are dead in the water, and God is sad and enraged. The British abolished slavery in 1833 in most of the Empire. When it was first exhibited in 1840, it was hung beside the following poem that he wrote called "Fallacies of Hope":