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How did J.M.W. Turner begin making art as a child?
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J.M.W. Turner
The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth to Be Broken Up, 1838, oil on canvas by J.M.W. Turner, 1839; in the National Gallery, London.
As a child, J.M.W. Turner displayed artistic talent that was recognized early on. His father, who worked as a barber, famously sold the young boy’s drawings to his customers.1
By the age of 10, Turner was sent to live with an uncle in Brentford, Middlesex, where he attended school. His early artistic development is supported by several drawings dated as early as 1787, which were considered sufficiently professional to corroborate the tradition of his father selling his work. This early exposure to the art market and his subsequent entry into the Royal Academy schools in 1789 helped launch his career as one of England's most celebrated landscape painters.1