Turner - Art Ideas Author:Barry Venning The son of a London barber, J. M. W. Turner (1775-1851) was an artistic prodigy who earned the recognition of his peers while still a very young man, and subsequently dominated British landscape painting. His fame spread to Europe and America during his lifetime, and after his death his achievements were ranked alongside those of the Old Masters... more ». He measured himself against such predecessors as Claude Lorrain, and yet the chromatic brilliance and unusual compositions of his later paintings have drawn comparisons with more recent artists, including the Impressionists and the Abstract Expressionists.« less