Life

Turner was born at Newport, Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

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

During his adult life Turner was a dentist before enlisting at the outbreak of the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

. Severely wounded at the Battle of Chancellorsville

Battle of Chancellorsville

The Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War, and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville Campaign. It was fought from April 30 to May 6, 1863, in Spotsylvania County, Virginia, near the village of Chancellorsville. Two related battles were fought nearby on...

, Turner was subsequently sent by his family to Italy, since it was assumed the climate would improve his health.

Turner became immediately enamored of the works of the Italian Renaissance sculptors he saw in Italy and especially in Florence 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 and The Newport Historical 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

Oliver Perry Monument

Oliver Perry Monument is a bronze statue, by William Greene Turner, dedicated to Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. It is located in Eisenhower Park in Newport, RI, between Washington Square and Touro street. The statue faces west towards Newport Harbor....

, which was unveiled on 10 September 1885 at The Mall Washington Square in Newport, Rhode Island

Newport, Rhode Island

Newport is a city on Aquidneck Island in Newport County, Rhode Island, United States, about south of Providence. Known as a New England summer resort and for the famous Newport Mansions, it is the home of Salve Regina University and Naval Station Newport which houses the United States Naval War...

.

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 Turner is among the possessions of the Newport Historical Society

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:...

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William Greene Turner never married.
He died in 1917, and is buried at The Common Burial Ground, Newport, Rhode Island.

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