The Fighting Temeraire, JMW Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner was a painter who combined oceanic scenes with swirling, luminous colors. He was also a trailblazer of the sublime. A wonderful example of Turner's techniques, The Fighting Temeraire on the surface may seem like a typical everyday scene. Nearing the end of his career, Turner was already 64 years old when this painting was finished. During the Battle of Trafalgar, a naval battle between the British and the French, The Temeraire (the lighter, larger ship) played a large part. The composition in this work in incredible, with the gorgeous sunset, radiating color, and the dark, smaller ship towing the larger ship. Turner conveys the fall of this hero ship and its replacement by the newer tugboat to his audience through the quickly fleeting daylight and the steamboat pulling the Temeraire to bay to be disassembled.
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I love the position of sunset in the background. The ship, going into retirement, is being pulled to its own subset.
ReplyDeleteI also enjoyed that! Turner does a great job of leading the eye in creative ways.
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