Is Turner’s famous painting of the heroic warship a vision of loss or hope?
I recently watched a recording of one of the programs from the TV series Great Paintings of the World, presented by Andrew Marr and screened on Channel 5 in the summer. Episode 3 featured The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to Her Last Berth to Be Broken Up, 1838 by JMW Turner. Painted in 1839, it depicts the heroic warship from the Battle of Trafalgar on its last journey down the Thames. The work is a stunning waterscape in Turner’s characteristic expressionistic style. His use of loose brushstrokes, thick impasto paint and thin layered glazes, evoke atmospheric impressions of a vast sky and its reflection in the still water. This contrasts with the depiction of the ship and tugboat, which are more detailed and sharply defined. It is the juxtaposition of the grand old ship and the small puffing steamboat that has given rise to many differing views of what the painting is really about. Is it a tragic work about loss and the end of an era, or can it be considered in a more positive light?
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