Self-Portrait

1798

The large watercolours of North Wales

The large watercolour views he made in North Wales in 1798, such as his depiction of Caernarvon Castle, are counted among the great landscapes of European art; by the age of 25, according to Wilson, he had developed watercolour into a new medium capable of much the same expressive power as oils.

October 1798

Sixty commissions for watercolours

He boasted to his friend Joseph Farington that he had 60 commissions for watercolours from different customers and was earning more money than he could spend; on his sketching excursions he was always on the lookout for saleable subjects.

1799

Tears before a painting by Claude Lorrain

The collector John Julius Angerstein invited him to see his paintings; standing before Claude’s “The Embarkation of the Queen of Sheba” Turner burst into tears and explained that he would never be able to paint anything like it. Only when he finished “Dido Building Carthage” (1815) did he feel he had achieved something comparable.

4 November 1799

Elected an associate of the Royal Academy

On 4 November 1799 Turner, by then a popular artist, was elected an associate (corresponding) member of the Royal Academy.

1801

The triumph of the “Bridgewater Sea Piece” at the Academy

“Dutch Boats in a Gale” (the “Bridgewater Sea Piece”), commissioned for 250 guineas by the Duke of Bridgewater, one of the richest men in England, “took the Academy by storm” and was hung in the best location of the whole exhibition: in the Great Room, centred, opposite the entrance.

1801

Birth of Evelina, Sarah Danby’s daughter

Turner never married, but is generally believed to have been the father of the two older daughters of his housekeeper, the widow Sarah Danby — Evelina (born 1801) and Georgiana; their discreet relationship lasted twelve years.