William Turner of Oxford OWS

1789 - 1862

Known as Turner of Oxford to distinguish him from his famous namesake, J.M.W. Turner, William was born in Black Bourton, Oxfordshire, and after a few years in London being taught by John Varley, spent most of his life in that county. In 1807, Turner first exhibited at the Royal Academy, and the next year he was elected to the Society of Painters in Water-Colours, which became his main exhibiting forum for the rest of his life. As well as becoming one of the outstanding and most distinctive landscape painters of his generation, he also practised as an architect, designing the church in Shipton-on-Cherwell. An intense focus on natural detail and its painstaking depiction characterise some of his best work.

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