William Greene Turner (October 21, 1833 – 1917) was an American sculptor.

Early life

Turner was born at

Newport, Rhode Island Newport is an American seaside city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island. It is located in Narragansett Bay, approximately southeast of Providence, Rhode Island, Providence, south of Fall River, Massachusetts, south of Boston, ...

, the son of James Varnum Turner and Catherine (Greene) Turner.

Civil War service

During his adult life, Turner was a dentist before the outbreak of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

. He enlisted as a sergeant in Company K of the

2nd Rhode Island Infantry The 2nd Rhode Island Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment composed of volunteers from the state of Rhode Island that served with the Union Army in the American Civil War. They, along with the 1st Rhode Island, wore a very simple uniform ...

on June 5, 1861. Coincidentally, Company K was commanded by his brother, Captain Charles W. Turner, who had previously been commander of the

Newport Artillery Company The Newport Artillery Company of Newport, Rhode Island was chartered in 1741 by the Rhode Island General Assembly during the reign of King George II of Great Britain. It is the oldest military unit in the United States operating under its origina ...

. On July 22 he was then commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant to fill a vacancy resulting from a casualty during the Battle of Bull Run which was fought the day before. He was promoted to 1st lieutenant on November 28, 1861 to fill a vacancy created by his brother's resignation from the Army. Turner was promoted to captain in command of Company G of the 2nd Rhode Island on April 4, 1863. Shortly after assuming command of G Company, he was wounded on May 3 at the

Battle of Salem Church The Battle of Salem Church, also known as the Battle of Banks' Ford, took place on May 3 and 4, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, as part of the Chancellorsville Campaign of the American Civil War. Background After occupying Marye's Heig ...

, Virginia during the

Chancellorsville Campaign The Battle of Chancellorsville, April 30 – May 6, 1863, was a major battle of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville campaign. Chancellorsville is known as Lee's "perfect battle" because h ...

. On May 11, he sent to his brother Dr. Henry E. Turner (1816-1897), who was serving as a contract surgeon at

Fort Adams Fort Adams is a former United States Army post in Newport, Rhode Island that was established on July 4, 1799 as a First System coastal fortification, named for President John Adams who was in office at the time. Its first commander was Capt ...

, a short telegram - "''Wounded in front of bladder. Pocket book saved my life. Not serious.''" On account of his wounds, Captain Turner was discharged from the Army on July 21, 1863. He was subsequently sent by his family to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, since it was assumed the climate would improve his health.

Artistic career

In Italy, Turner became immediately enamored of the works of the Italian Renaissance sculptors and especially those in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, where he was lodging. Turner (under the sponsorship of his uncle William Greene of East Greenwich, R.I.) chose to remain in Florence for the next thirty years taking a studio there. He took numerous commissions both from private sources and from the newly formed Italian government. Both the

Redwood Library The Redwood Library and Athenaeum is a subscription library, museum, rare book repository and research center founded in 1747, and located at 50 Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island. The building, designed by Peter Harrison and completed ...

and the

Newport Historical Society The Newport Historical Society is a historical society in Newport, Rhode Island that was chartered in 1854 to collect and preserve books, manuscripts, and objects pertaining to Newport's history. History of the society Although the society ...

have examples of his work in marble and alabaster. He became (as was often the fashion of the day), an American expatriate choosing to study and master his art abroad. His works were shown in Rome and Paris at various expositions during the 1870s and 1880s. Among the more famous of Turner's American works is his bronze Oliver Perry Monument, which was unveiled on 10 September 1885 at the Parade (now known as Eisenhower Park) on Washington Square in

. In 1890 Turner was elected as an honorary member of the Rhode Island

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of military officers wh ...

. During the second decade of the twentieth century, William Greene Turner moved home to Newport from Italy and spent his remaining days doing commissions in the United States. His bust of his brother, famed Newport horticulturist Doctor Henry E. Turner, is among the possessions of the

Personal life

William Greene Turner never married. He died in 1917 and is buried in the

Island Cemetery The Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery are a pair of separate cemeteries on Farewell and Warner Street in Newport, Rhode Island. Together they contain over 5,000 graves, including a colonial-era slave cemetery and Jewish graves. The pair ...

in Newport.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turner, William Greene 1833 births 1917 deaths Artists from Newport, Rhode Island American dentists People of Rhode Island in the American Civil War Union Army officers Burials at Common Burying Ground and Island Cemetery 19th-century American sculptors 19th-century American male artists American male sculptors 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists 19th-century dentists Sculptors from Rhode Island