J. M. W. Turner

J.M.W. Turner

J.M.W. Turner was an English Romanticist landscape painter. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting. Although renowned for his oil paintings, Turner is also one of the greatest masters of British watercolour landscape painting. He is commonly known as "the painter of light". Turner used or experimented with a wide variety of pigments, using several within a few years of their dates of discovery. Turner used pigments like carmine in his paintings, despite knowing that they were not long-lasting, and against the advice of contemporary experts to use more durable pigments. As a result, many of his colours have now faded. John Ruskin complained at how quickly Turner's work decayed; Turner was indifferent to posterity and chose materials that looked good when freshly applied. By 1930 there was concern that both his oils and his watercolours were fading. I picked one of his darker seascapes because it really grabbed my attention.  I love how the painting is quite dark and makes the mood of the painting seem mysterious and reminds me of myths and legends such as; the little mermaid, the Bermuda triangle and tales of pirates being dragged to sea.