Turner: The Extraordinary Life and Momentous Times of J.M.W. Turner

by Franny Moyle

The extraordinary life of J. M. W. Turner, one of Britain's most admired, misunderstood and celebrated artists J. M. W. Turner is Britain's most famous landscape painter. Yet beyond his artistic achievements, little is known of the man himself and the events of his life: the tragic committal of his mother to a lunatic asylum, the personal sacrifices he made to effect his stratospheric rise, and the bizarre double life he chose to lead in the last years of his life.

A near mythical figure in his own lifetime, Franny Moyle tells the story of the man who was considered visionary at best and ludicrous at worst. A resolute adventurer, he found new ways of revealing Britain to the British, astounding his audience with his invention and intelligence. Set against the backdrop of the finest homes in Britain, the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution, this is an astonishing portrait of one of the most important figures in Western art and a vivid evocation of Britain and Europe in flux.

Set against this spectacular and ultimately controversial career, Moyle also excavates the private Turner. Psychologically wounded as a child, by a family torn apart by death and mental illness, she suggests a man who could not embrace relationships fully until the very end of his life. Only then did he succumb to his love for the widowed Sophia Booth, concealing this all too human aspect of his life behind an assumed identity. She mines the poignancy of his final years, when, with his health ailing, Turner sought solace in a secret private life that had eluded him before and that he knew would scandalise the new generation of Victorians.

Genres: Art, Biography, Nonfiction, History, Art History, Biography Memoir, British Literature

550 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Former television producer, currently a freelance author.

Reviews

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I started this book only a few days before the sad end to the excruciating 2016 US Presidential Elections, when I felt an urge for reading that engaged the old coconut without touching on any of the many very, very aggravating aspects of modern life. This book filled the bill admirably. Art: Oxycontin without the mess.

As a teenager long ago I had even less artistic sensibility than now, if such a thing is possible, but I have a very clear memory of a Turner making me stop in my tracks during the high-school field-trip to the museum. I had the momentary belief than somebody was behind that painting, shining a small-diameter flashlight into the gallery. When I realized an artist had achieved this effect by paint alone, I was moved to a level of higher-than-usual level of eloquence in which I said, I believe, “Holy crap! How do you do that?” I mean, just looking at it made me want to squint and reach for my sunglasses.

Since then, Turner's work has popped up regularly in my life. Its usual appearance is as a happy destination of guaranteed-or-your-money-back beauty whenever I am visiting a museum but it is still too soon to go to the snack bar without appearing a glutton. Also, Turner's Rain, Steam and Speed appears on the cover of my much-beloved undergraduate poetry anthology, which has miraculously stayed with me through 30+ moves of house and is at my side even now. Finally, not long ago, I made the Long-Suffering Wife sit through the 2014 2.5-hour biopic, which (most Goodreads visitors probably know already) is very good and all the carping soreheads who complained it was too slow should go and see Fast and Furious 8 or something equally pathetic.

At any rate, this book fills the brainy-but-soothing bill quite nicely. There is something strange and inexplicable about the rise of a genius like Turner, seeming to happen almost spontaneously and without resistance. The genius artist, from an unremarkable background, is recognized when very young and then rises and stays risen. He meets little or no resistance and social class barriers which hamper those of only slightly less talent are, while occasionally present, mostly brushed aside. He is recognized as someone who can live anywhere, see anyone, pursue topics and activities exclusively because they interest him, travel almost at will, seduce and abandon, and generally carry on in a way which would be unacceptable for the rest of us. How is this status achieved? How does everybody get together and say “Hey, this guy is something else! Let's let him do whatever he wants!”?

The other examples in this category which come to mind are Dickens, Picasso, Alfred Hitchcock, and (more tragically) David Foster Wallace. I could think of no women in this category off the top of my head, although they may exist. Shakespeare's fictional sister Judith, as posited by Virginia Woolf, may be the cautionary tale of the distaff analog. Judith is refused education, discouraged, stifled, and forced into a loveless marriage before taking her life.

Turner's practical father was where he got the business sense (unusual in an artist) which helped Turner get and stay prosperous through his life. Turner's mother was committed to an asylum which, although probably better than average for its day, would no doubt be nightmarish to experience first-hand. There is no evidence, in this book (or elsewhere I could find), that Turner's mother had ever set brush or pencil to paper. She is a mystery and cipher to the world. Perhaps it is the morbid romantic that lurks inside every curmudgeon that makes me want to believe that she was perhaps the Shakespeare's sister of her time, perhaps a stifled genius artist of JMW Turner caliber. Let me make clear: that is NOT a thesis of the author. That is merely my idea, unsupported by evidence.

If you have seen the above-mentioned biographical movie, it is also interesting to contrast the book's portrayal of Victorian art critic and public intellectual John Ruskin with the foppish caricature of same in Mike Leigh's movie. The movie's portrayal of Ruskin came in for a little bashing in The Guardian. I agree that the movie was unfair, and the book is better. Ruskin was ahead of his time in championing Turner, at a time when many art critics wrote with a straight face that Turner's work were a giant confidence trick on the public and/or the work of a madman. In addition, Ruskin did what he had to (e.g., lying) in order to preserve Turner's erotica, which, at that time, was a crime (as pornography) to even possess, even though Ruskin was probably repelled by it.

I received an free unfinished galley of the ebook for review. Thank you to Netgalley and Penguin for their generosity. For reasons perhaps clear to electronic typesetting experts but not to me, my Kindle-format copy contained blank spaces whenever numbers (usually dates, but also prices Turner received for his canvases) and certain other unusual typesetting instances (e.g., “ff”) occurred. I occasionally had to resort to Google voice search to make sure I had the chronology correct. Not a great inconvenience. I'm sure the problem will be ironed out in the final, for-sale version.

Review of this book in the 16 July 2016 edition of The Economist available here.

[Anders · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very well researched and a very informative look at Turner's life. Unfortunately it somehow slides into sections of bland minutiae that make it a bit hard to get through. Overall, I appreciated reading it and learning more about a favorite painter of mine, but I had trouble reading it through and took multiple breaks.

Turner is a really fascinating character, and there's just so much about him to cover! :D
Even though I gave it a 3* rating, it's still kind of worth a read if Turner is of interest.

[annabelle]

This is a very detailed biography of Turner... perhaps TOO detailed.

I was very intrested in the discussions of the everchanging political landscape of Britain, the british art world, and Turner's place in all of it. However, all of this was bogged down with unnecessary levels of detail. Moyle clearly did her research, and I admire her commitment to painting a picture of life in Britain at that time. Unfortunately, I really couldn't care less about how rainy a particular summer was. Not every bit of information researched needs to be included in the book.

I would say the book is good. It's easy to understand and gives you a glimpse into Turner's life. It just drags at times.

[Nate Jacobsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

J.M.W Turner was an artistic pioneer witness to dramatic events and revolutions, from Napoleon to the revolution of steam. As a dedicated plein air artist he popularized regions of Britain and the European Continent but was equally able to capture the popular events defining recent English history.

As a biography it does an exceptional job of engaging in the details of Turner’s life. However, I would also recommend it on the basis that it provides a unique perspective in two ways:

The first being a historic account of an artist, with all of the commercial, social, and societal demands and how they morph with the shift from a system of royal patronage to one supported by the rising middle and upper classes.

Second, the events covered by the span of Turner’s life are significant and his account of them through the artistic medium provides a unique perspective of art reflecting upon the advances of science and art itself…

“But herein surely lies the power of the great artist. He makes you see and think of a great deal more than the objects before you.” - Regarding ‘The Fighting Temeraire’, the recycling of a ship’s hull transformed, on canvas, to a poetic allegory of the advance of science and Britain’s place in the new world.

From capturing the height of England’s ships of the line to the ephemeral luminous interpretation of steam locomotives and industrial towns, Turner witnessed a literal revolution of the land and seascapes. That his paintings went from strict classically informed renderings to abstractions of color and light in the same time speaks its own poetic volumes.

Franny Moyle’s account employs an excellent balance between personal details, anecdotes, and contextual information that gives the reader firm footing for interpreting the text without much needed in the way of outside referencing. My one critique would be in the slight dearth of painting-images provided due to the importance of these in understanding critical responses to and the development of Turner’s work. A misstep easily salvaged by the reader with a smartphone.

I will recommend the biography to anyone interested in the interchange between art and history. Like some of Turner’s later landscapes, it will imbue you with a certain warmth of feeling for him and the characters surrounding his life.

[Leslie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first time I went to London, when I was a grad student, I had a short list of places I absolutely had to visit. High on that list was the Turner Gallery at the Tate (now the Tate Britain). I had seen Turner's work reproduced in art books but had never seen any of it in the flesh, so to speak. I spent a very happy couple of hours in that gallery. It was even better in person than it had looked on the page, of course.

This is a solid and well-researched biography, which does a very good job of placing Turner in the context of the artistic and political currents of the time.

[A Holm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Non-fiction, scholarly, good explanation of time just prior to Impressionism

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have truly learned to appreciate William Turner's art especially in the past several years. There was a time that I thought it was "out there" but that was before I delved seriously into watercolor finding my own way in my art endeavors. Turner often had trouble with harsh critics of his paintings especially in the latter years of his career when his personal vision and creative exploration reached new heights. He was a driven man and I can relate to that part of his personality, though I don't even come close to the work ethic that he had.

This quote by a friend and collector of his work, George Jones:
" he exaggerated what he saw, but the foundation was truth; the vivid and warm colouring of nature he painted with the most forcible colours, the lines of nature and atmosphere no pigments can give, but Turner went further than any artist of the past or present age in diffusing light and air over his pictures."

I do believe that Turner was an artist before his time, who experimented and often brought science into his studio to bring more clarity to his paintings. He had a great love and affinity for light and drama, especially observed at dawn and sunset. I wished that I could bump up my rating to four stars but I found there was too much detail about the business end of Turner's art and the people who bought his paintings.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book chiefly because of the descriptions of Turner's painting techniques and the photos of various paintings. Other than his art, I didn't find Turner's life all that interesting. Perhaps that was because of his single-minded devotion, up to his death, to that art, which caused him to mostly neglect those in his personal life who were not connected to art. Most of his interactions were related to the business of selling his paintings and the long descriptions of those activities were not that interesting to read about. Turner seemed most human at the beginning and end of his life and those were the parts of the book that I enjoyed the most. Still, it was worthwhile to read about such a talented artist and how he developed that talent.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fanny Moyle starts her eminently readable and accessible biography of Turner with his death and then goes back to the beginning of his life to examine how he became the man and artist he ended up being. It’s an illuminating, well-researched and detailed book, perhaps more for the general reader than the academic, although she does explore his painting methods in some detail. I particularly enjoyed learning about Turner within his circle and the artistic environment of the time, which I felt Moyle described very evocatively. An excellent introduction to Turner and his work.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had no idea how massively prolific Turner was! Moyle's descriptions of the paintings are necessarily brief but informative. This is an engaging survey of Turner's intellectual passions, technical experiments, and adventurous travels.

[Gerry · Rating 5 out of 5]

The use of the word 'Extraordinary' in the title is most apposite for, although I knew of Turner being something of an odd character and knew of some of his romantic attachments, I never did realise how absolutely extraordinary he was! Franny Moyle's definitive and absolutely compelling biography leaves us in no doubt whatsoever as to his quirky character, lifestyle and utter determination to be at the top of the artistic tree.

Born at 21 Maiden Lane in London's Covent Garden, the son of a barber, he wanted to become a painter from a very young age as his determination to draw was apparent from the start. And when his friendship with the Trimmer family, whose mother Sarah was an artist, developed he became aware of great paintings on their walls and they had a lasting effect on him.

He was drawing as a youth and once the Royal Academy Schools had been established one of his drawings, along with those of others, were seen by Sir Joshua Reynolds and this consequently led to him being one of the successful candidates for admission. Thus his career with the Royal Academy had begun and from then he went from strength to strength until he became a full member of the Academy.

He was adept at marketing and as he progressed he became adept at encouraging people to buy his work and he quickly established patronage from a variety of important people. This enabled him to travel, and he loved going abroad for long visits and making sketches as well as producing oil paintings at the same time. These he offered to his by then adoring public on his return and this enabled him to plan further visits to the continent, although the French Revolution did set him back somewhat for visits to France. Switzerland and Venice were two other of his favourite haunts and when he returned from lengthy stays in those places he returned with notebooks chock full of ideas for future works.

He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1790 when number 644 in the catalogue was 'The Archbishop's Palace, Lambeth, by J.M.W. Turner. Apart from 1799 he then had exhibits at the annual exhibitions through to 1808 and thereafter he exhibited, on and off, mostly on, through to 1850. By that time his reputation was well established and although regarded as somewhat eccentric, he was present at most varnishing days and could be seen occasionally tampering with his work.

By then he was able to charge large sums for his work and he had commissions from various publishers and patrons that kept him very busy throughout the year. And he was able to charge ever increasing sums of money for his work.

As his fame increased he turned more to producing watercolours and later he decided on a different style, which proved to be very controversial, especially when exhibited at the Academy. For instance
the painter Benjamin Robert Haydon, an Academician who had become a stern critic of the Academy, said of one of Turner's entries, 'Ulysses Deriding Polythemus', 'Turner's pictures always look as if painted by a man who was born without hands, and having contrived to tie a brush at the end of his wooden stump, he managed by smudging, bungling, scrawling, twisting and splashing to convey to others a notion of his conceptions.' And this by an artist of whom Charles Dickens once said, 'his art was marvellous by its badness'!

Even John Ruskin, with whom Turner had built up a great friendship, and who was a great supporter of the artist was critical of some of his later works. But even so Turner still commanded a good price for his works even after Thomas Griffith who marketed some of his later works after a visit to Switzerland was obliged to remark, politely, 'They're a little different from your usual style.' This was when he suggested a price of 80 guineas for worked up versions of some of his sketches to which Turner replied, 'They are worth more.'

He continued his complicated private life to the end and kept his spirits up as best he could before passing away on 19 December 1851 at the age of 76. There was no doubt that the sweep of his life and work was truly epic and his lifelong ambition that his art would endure when his life was done was undoubtedly fulfilled.

Franny Moyle's brilliant book is indeed utterly compelling throughout.

[John Matthew IV · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great biography of a great artist. Franny really gives you a sense of the life and times of Turner.

I wish there were more photos!

I do think it would be fun to visit all the places Turner lived in England.

p. 104: "This made me a painter."

p. 118: He chose his Art as the sole purpose of his life.

p. 120: 26 Maiden Lane

p. 225: Turner invests in a Jamaican tontine.

p. 308: Itinerary of Italy by Heinrich August Ottaker Reichard

p. 386: On The Fighting Temeraire: "But Turner would not sell a piece that he knew was already priceless."

p. 447: Turner's works are in Petworth House in Sussex, Farnley Hall in Yorkshire, and the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Standing in the Sun: A Life of J.M.W. Turner
The Paintings of J. M. W. Turner: Revised Edition: Text and Plates
Turner - A Life: The Life of Britain's Greatest Painter
Turner in his Time

[Tom Eames · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book 5 of 12 for the year - fascinating view of a widely respected but often misunderstood man who was later discarded for his increasingly impressionistic direction and “shameful” sexual art/expression. I think the directionality of the discourse is somewhat lost in the writings on his later years in comparison to that of the younger Turner.

Additionally, while not ignoring the fact that Turner directly and purposefully profited from Slavery and, understanding that this does not represent a central part of his work, I’m not sure the general recognition of the impact it had at the time and the abhorrent nature of it is really acknowledged sufficiently. I appreciate that this isn’t a book on the horrors of the British empire but equally not something that should be dismissed quite so readily in discussions anywhere near the issue. Maybe I shouldn’t need the author to detail the moral repugnance of it, after all this is a biography. I don’t know, not sure how to feel.

Either way the vast majority of this book I really enjoyed and had led me to read further and learn more about extraordinary artists of the time.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This biography details the life of a true genius--a person who, from childhood, was able to draw. Fortunately, his family was able to encourage his talent and educate him. Turner also was willing to put in the work, copying other artists, traveling to see other work, to enhance his knowledge. One os his colleagues realized that he had a photographic memory for landscapes and with a few strokes of a pen or brush could sketch what he needed for a full painting.

He was recognized early by the Academy--being the youngest member ever inducted. He was soon making a fortune through his art. It is as a "painter of light" that we most remember him and certainly his extraordinary vision was unique at the time. It was so unique that his contemporaries said he had gone mad and his later paintings were proof of that.

His personal life was somewhat irregular...

The author knows the paintings well and gives precise descriptions of each as she outlines Turner's growth as an artist. You might want to have a computer handy to see the paintings.

[Emma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm going through a thing. The thing is #mikeleighsummer.

My only angle is romance and I do highly recommend this to historical romance readers! My big takeaway during both Mr. Turner and this read was the stretch of Turner's life across these periods that are so often the settings of the books I am reading. A romance takes place over a few weeks, maybe a few months, normally?

JMW Turner is born a Georgian and dies a Victorian, at the exact first moment when someone of his birth could become the greatest living British artist. He becomes Turner, RA, but he is never Sir William Turner.

It isn't that history books bore me, they just become sweeping in ways that untether me. I'd much rather read a string of biographies, particularly of artists, than a single history book on a topic.

Moyle does a great job of intersecting biography and art criticism here as well--highly recommend reading with a device near by so you can look up at the art as she is talking about it! At least the e-book I read did not include illustrations.

Anyway, this book was wonderful!

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book gave a detailed account of Turner’s life as well as an invaluable insight into the momentous times he lived in. Having read this book, a visit to a Stately Home contemporary to the age he lived in has been brought to life. Encountering gardens designed by people he was associated with and having learned something of what drove and motivated people, Turner included, of that time, through this book I now see this period of history with fresh eyes and have found it to be fascinating. If you have the patience, this is a very enjoyable read and I recommend it to you.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very thorough biography of Turner and the times in which he painted. His commitment to his art and his prolific pace of work, come across in the book, and there are some interesting details about his personal life. I enjoyed it but found it rather long and at times too detailed for my interest. Although there are some pictures of his work in the book, I felt it would have benefitted from more illustrations. I found myself constantly googling the paintings referred to in the text.

[Nicholas Story, solicitor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I must admit that I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought that I would (or possibly as much as I should). It's informative, it's a compelling tale, against a dramatic backdrop, and she goes some way to analysing the life and work of the great man. But somehow, it was a bit flat in places, and something of a struggle for me. I'm not sure that narrative does a remarkable story justice. Perhaps, it never could.

[Jsgunnoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The author should be admired for the amazing amount of research. Unfortunately, for me at least, the abundance of detail detracted from the enjoyment of reading. There were numerous pages of where he had dinner and who were his traveling companions. Perhaps I would have done better looking for a book mostly about the works of Turner and his influence. Those items are certainly included in this volume but buried beneath mounds of minutiae.

[Carl · Rating 4 out of 5]

J M W Turner is my favorite artist. This biography is a must to understand his life and how his art developed. It has important insights and side facts, such as in those days an artist could not go to the local Blicks to buy a selection of paints. Turner's father spent hours mixing each color from "scratch". This resulted in Turner using a limited palette of colors for each painting.
Moyle also describes the techniques Turner used to create his amazing ocean waves and sea foam.

[Vanessa Innes-Wagstaff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely superb biography of Turner, with a refreshing angle on much of his life and work. However I can't help feeling that the author benefitted from the ground breaking work of James Hamilton who did a great job some years earlier. However that aside it's a super read, with new and fresh perspectives.

[Daniel Farabaugh · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book suffer from too much detail about the boring day to day life of the author. It never was able to give significant weight to his works. Part of the problem was the sheer volume of works which made them blend together.

[Emma Dargue · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and thoughtful biography of JMW Turner that really need Turner within the time he lived in and how these things affected and changed him for better or worse. Granny writes a masterly biography highlighting Turner's not so great characteristics alongside his better characteristics.

[Pip Jennings · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meticulously researched but I’m afraid I found it infinitely tedious.

[Phil Brett · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent biography of Turner. Rammed with facts and stories, including and discussion of the paintings themselves. Very readable and one to return to.

[Haley Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

the sun IS god

[Johns · Rating 5 out of 5]

A readable, complete history of a truly historic English artist. The author not only relates interesting facts about this precedent-shattering artist but she also fills in a lot of history that was happening all around Mr. Turner during his life in the first half of the 19th century. J. M. W. Turner shook up the staid and controlled British art market during his lifetime and left the world a large legacy of stunning work.

[N.S. Ford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review first appeared on my blog - https://nsfordwriter.com - on 29th May 2022.

This is a very detailed biography of the artist Turner, from the author of Desperate Romantics and Constance. I'm afraid there was something about the writing style and perspective that left me cold. Maybe I thought it would be quirky, like the film Mr Turner which starred Timothy Spall.

The narrative begins with the circumstances of Turner's death - he had a second home as 'Admiral Booth', living with a woman - which his friends tried to repress as it further worsened the artist's reputation. Then the whole of his life is examined, impressively bringing together evidence from a variety of sources to follow his rise to fame. Historical context is given where necessary for us to place him in that world, although not all references are explained. For the general reader, the style is very wordy and the content could have been slimmed down a little. Maybe for a student or curator with a professional interest in Turner, the book is ideal.

I felt that a few things were missing. Often there were significant paintings discussed but these didn't appear in the three sections of plates. A timeline and family tree were needed but not included. There was little information on how critical and popular opinions of Turner's work have changed since his death, with no attempt to trace his influence on modern art. I would also have appreciated some dramatisation of the artist's life, just very occasionally, to allow the reader to feel more connected to him. His personality does remain a mystery to me, other than that he was proud, hard-working and not especially political.

In summary, this biography provides knowledge without enjoyment.

[Ophelia Sings · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been an admirer of Franny Moyle for some time - her fizzy biography of Constance Wilde and her chronicle of the Pre-Raphaelites are long-standing favourites of mine. In this, her latest life story, Moyle turns her spotlight on the man so admired by Ruskin, the Pre-Raphaelite's champion, and the artist behind Britain's best-loved painting, The Fighting Temeraire. A new biography of JMW Turner is a delicious prospect indeed, and Ms Moyle's thoroughly wonderful work doesn't disappoint.

Like Moyle's earlier works, Turner is a lively and engaging account, and her enthusiasm - and knowledge - of her subject shines from every page. Those looking for an in-depth tutorial of Turner's methods may be a little disappointed; however, there is enough here to satisfy the vast majority of readers. While Turner's methods may not be as thoroughly, well, drawn, as some readers might like, the man's life - both private and professional - are more than adequately covered, and it is here that Moyle excels, as always; her talent for breathing life into long-dead lives and figures, painting vibrant pictures of her own, is hard to match. Turner's relationships are exquisitely drawn, and there is also an element of social history here, placing the artist firmly in his time.

There is much here to compel and absorb both the Turner aficionado and the newcomer to the artist's oeuvre alike; lively and entertaining, Moyle has crafted another triumph which will doubtlessly join her previous successes on my 'most re-read' list.

My sincere thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Rick Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, and I am wavering between a three and a four. I really knew very little about Turner, and had only a cursory acquaintance with his influence, and this book got me a fair bit down the road to understanding his life and the people and times around him. I appreciate him a lot more now that I read Moyle's book, and maybe that is enough. As an artist though, I wanted more: more discussion of the paintings themselves, and more pictures of the paintings that were important, more field sketches, since he traveled so extensively. What this book has is an overabundance of who lives where and who's patronizing Turner, and not enough discussion of the actual art. I can go online and go back and look at the pictures, and certainly I will seek the real paintings out when I can. It feels like an enjoyable chronology, with a lot of energy and emphasis on nailing down the details of his travels and locations, and I would have appreciated more analysis of the force of his influence.