Joseph Mallord William Turner was born circa April 23, 1775, in Covent Garden, London, England. His father, a wig-maker and barber, supported the family through his wife’s struggles with mental illness, a condition worsened by the death of Turner’s younger sister in 1786.
Turner was sent to live with an uncle in nearby Brentford in 1785 but returned to Covent Garden by the end of the decade. Although he received little formal schooling, Turner was clearly a talented artist, and by age 13 he was selling drawings that were featured at his father's shop. The Royal Academy of Arts admitted Turner in late 1789, and the following year he was given the chance to display his work in the Royal Academy Exhibition.