The Fighting Temeraire

The Fighting Temeraire

JMW Turner

Oil on Canvas

90.7 x 121.6 cm

1839

Joseph Mallord William Turner, better known as J.M.W. Turner, was born on April 23, 1775, in Covent Garden, London, England.  As a landscape painter, Turner brought luminosity and Romantic imagery to his subjects.  Turner died on December 19, 1851, in Cheyne Walk, Chelsea, London England.

http://www.biography.com/people/jmw-turner-40806

The painting was thought to represent the decline of Britain's naval power. The 'Temeraire' is shown travelling east, away from the sunset, even though Rotherhithe is west of Sheerness, but Turner's main concern was to evoke a sense of loss, rather than to give an exact recording of the event. The spectacularly colourful setting of the sun draws a parallel with the passing of the old warship. By contrast the new steam-powered tug is smaller and more prosaic.

Turner was in his sixties when he painted 'The Fighting Temeraire'. It shows his mastery of painting techniques to suggest sea and sky. Paint laid on thickly is used to render the sun's rays striking the clouds. By contrast, the ship's rigging is meticulously painted.

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/joseph-mallord-william-turner-the-fighting-temeraire

All paintings were selected solely on the basis that they fit within the theme of boats or ships, and that I felt emotionally moved by them