Page "J. M. W. Turner" Paragraph 5

In 1785, as a result of a " fit of illness " in the family the young Turner was sent to stay with his maternal uncle, Joseph Mallord William Marshall, in Brentford, which was then a small town west of London on the banks of the River Thames.

From this period, the earliest known artistic exercise by Turner is found, a series of simple colourings of engraved plates from Henry Boswell's Picturesque View of the Antiquities of England and Wales.

Around 1786, Turner was sent to Margate on the north-east Kent coast.

Here Turner produced a series of early drawings of the town and surrounding area foreshadowing his later work.

Turner would return to Margate many times in later life.