Joseph Mallord William Turner
Born: April 23, 1775 in London, England
Died: December 19, 1851 in London, United Kingdom
Nationality: British
Occupation: Painter (Artist)
The English painter Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851) was one of the greatest romantic interpreters of nature in the history of Western art and is still unrivaled in the virtuosity of his painting of light. It is greatly to the credit of the Royal Academy that the career of this revolutionary painter was one of uninterrupted success. He first exhibited in 1790 at the age of 15, was elected associate royal academician in 1799 and royal academician in 1802, and became professor of perspective in 1807 and deputy president in 1845.
Source Citation
"Joseph Mallord William Turner." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. World History In Context. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

Jean Desire Gustave Courbet
Born: June 10, 1819 in Ornans, France
Died: December 31, 1877 in La Tour de Peilz, Switzerland
Nationality: French
Occupation: Painter (Artist)
Jean Desiré Gustave Courbet (1819-1877) was a French painter whose powerful pictures of peasants and scenes of everyday life established him as the leading figure of the realist movement of the mid-19th century.
In 1840 Courbet went to Paris to study law, but he decided to become a painter and spent much time copying in the Louvre. In 1844 his Self-Portrait with Black Dog was exhibited at the Salon. The following year he submitted five pictures; only one, Le Guitarrero, was accepted. After a complete rejection in 1847, the Liberal Jury of 1848 accepted all 10 of his entries, and the critic Champfleury, who was to become Courbet's first staunch apologist, highly praised the Walpurgis Night.
Source Citation
"Jean Desiré Gustave Courbet." Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale, 1998. World History In Context. Web. 22 Oct. 2013.

Romanticism and Realism Artists