Nelson & His World

I just read an article yesterday about JMW Turner.

Wow! I had not realised before what a "maverick" character he was - not only in hs artistic style but in his everyday life as well.

It reminded me that of all his paintings "The Fighting Temeraire" was his favourite. He called it My Darling.

When I saw the original of the painting at an exhibition some while back I was surprised how small it was. (shades of Mona Lisa there).

But I think it said that during his lifetime Turner only allowed it to be exhibited once and from then on he would not let it out of his possession.

There is a funny little anecdote in this article which I thought was worth repeating.

Turner sometimes tried to live anonymously and had a house at Margate where he would go with a young "lover".



MB

Many thanks for that, Mark. Yes, he loved the painting of Fighting Temeraire. He never sold it and bequeathed it to the nation.

Turner was a difficult, secretive man, but, IMHO, the greatest ever English artist. In a book I have on Turner's paintings at the Tate, there's an interesting comment which I think I've quoted on another thread that I now can't find. Briefly, the martime events of the Napoleonic wars enabled Turner to combine maritime painting with contemporary reportage. His great painting of the battle of the Nile is now lost, (Q. How do you lose a Turner?), and his painting of the Victory of Trafalgar is a masterly imaginative reconstruction, with the French tricolor spread on the deck.

Turner actually went to Sheerness and boarded Victory on her return from Trafalgar. His sketch books, with details of splintermarks, damaged rails and a record of the capacity of the guns, are available for inspection at the Tate by prior arrangement.

One of the most remarkable exhibits at the Tate is Turner's palette, with its little dried puddles of muddy paint. Then you see these huge, overwhelming, heart-stopping canvases, and realise the transmutation came purely by way of Turner's hand and eye. Genius.

here is Turner's Trafalgar:


http://aftergrogblog.blogs.com/agb/imag ... falgar.jpg

and the Fighting Temeraire

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paint ... -temeraire

He did a fine painting of the Grand Harbour here in Malta, you will have to go to Turner, Images to view.

Mark,

Like you, I was surprised at the size ot the 'Fighting Temeraire', when I first saw it, and probably the most prophetic allusion is provided by the contrast with the paddle tug, the up and coming propulsion at sea (although of course it was going to be some while before sail disappeared from commercial use.)

However, I have always wondered why the sails are depicted, still bent to the yards. In reality I would imagine that these would have been removed before her tow to the breaker's yard, along with her guns and other useful equipment and leaving her a bare hulk. Was this yet another of Turner's allusions to make the scene even more poignant, with the thought that just possibly she might break loose from the tug and set sail again?

A brief quotation from Henry Newbolt's long poem 'The Fighting Temeraire' which echoes in verse the mood of Turner's painting.

'There’s a far bell ringing
At the setting of the sun,
And a phantom voice is singing
Of the great days done.
There’s a far bell ringing,
And a phantom voice is singing
Of renown for ever clinging
To the great days done.

Now the sunset breezes shiver,
Temeraire! Temeraire!
And she’s fading down the river,
Temeraire! Temeraire!

Now the sunset’s breezes shiver,
And she’s fading down the river,
But in England’s song for ever
She’s the Fighting Temeraire.'

Stephen:

do you know the date of the painting of the Grand Harbour?

It was almost certainly after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. During the wars, of course, he couldn't travel safely in Europe which meant he focused on English subjects, many maritime, and included paintings of the Martello towers that were built as defences during the wars.

Anna,

In 1817 he painted the eruption of Mount Vesuvias, Naples and I am taking a guess here that his Grand Harbour painting may well have been about this time.

Stephen

Anna,

Not surprisingly, many of the Temeraire's timbers still survive. Some were used to make a Communion table and two chairs for St. Mary's Rotherhithe, which I imagine was perhaps the nearest church to the yard, and I believe others were made into artifacts now at the NMM. I wouldn't mind betting some also ended up being used in house construction.