Sporre

Turner ‘s `Temeraire : A Glorious Tribute to the Past

The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up by the legendary Romantic artist Turner is surely one of his greatest creations . The artist himself referred to this painting as `My darling and refused to sell it . It is , according to John Ruskin , one of the most eminent art critics of the time , the last great painting Turner produced with his complete powers and truly this canvas shows the great artist in all his brilliance

The painting shows the famous [banner_entry_middle]

gun-ship The Temeraire , which played a significant role in the epoch making Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 , being tugged by a steam ship , a modern vessel to her last Berth ready to be disintegrated . Through the use of the simplest symbolism it tells the entire story of a great era passing away and brings to the forefront this romantic ‘s philosophy . The passing of the age of sails and their replacement with steam ships , iron vessels and in fact the entire process of industrialization was witnessed firsthand by such great artists as Turner

Temeraire is an everlasting symbol of naval heroism and nationalism Thus in the painting a passing age is glorified and eternalized by Turner . The painting also bears witness to the human need to romanticize the past as the Golden Era . The painting has been variously interpreted to represent Turner ‘s criticism of the ugliness of the industrialization (symbolized by the `ugly ‘ tug belching `foul ‘ and `malignant ‘ smoke However , an unbiased appreciation of the painting would suggest that the artist , although , he eternalizes the brave gunboat of yesteryears actually focuses on the steamer and thereby the coming era . The whites and silvers used for the past symbolizes death while the brilliant hues of the sunset on the sea gives the painting its grave melancholy mood

Turner was famously known as `the painter of light . His favorite subjects were that of the sea and the sky in all their moods . A chromatic palette and broadly applied atmospheric washes of paint characterize his mature works . He was the artist who could most stirringly and truthfully measure the moods of nature (Piper 321 ) His style of painting was distinctive for he used watercolor techniques in oil paintings , a process which imbues his painting with the ephemeral quality and fluency for which he is famous (Piper 321 ) The transparency with which he used oil paints allowed him to catch the evanescent light and also accounted for the intensity of hue in his pictures . He exerted a great influence on later French impressionist painters , particularly Monet

All these special attributes of the artist are clearly recognizable in this great painting , which can easily claim its status as the `Kohinoor of Turner ‘s crown… [banner_entry_footer]