Today I visited the Tate Britain.
Plan was to revisit the Turner galleries (aim = see what's new, answer = loads!), and then spend some time in the rooms devoted to the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries exhibitions.
Turner left an enormous number of sketchbooks (having always kept one handy) amongst his 19,000 or so watercolours, so it's definitely one of those to revisit every-so-often.
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Fishermen at Sea
Absolutely incredible. This is such a gripping painting. I really loved this canvas.
The emotions of loneliness, despair, dread, bleak iciness; and the fragility of human life set against the icy dark forces of the night sea. The dread of the unknown. Turner gives us human vulnerability, our lack of control, and Nature's ferocious beauty – and captures it so exquisitely in this painting.
There are two sources of light. One man-made lantern with a flickering candlelight, and the other is the moonlight with its lifesaving luminosity. So very beautiful.
There are some interesting details. Looking closely, I think we can make out some objects floating by the boat, and some seagulls flying by. The silhouette of the other boats in the distance adds a further charm. Moreover, I am always astounded at how Turner is able to paint the boats with that bobbing undulating feel over the waves. It's just so masterful, and makes it feel like you've captured a real life still.
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| Seagulls gliding, fruits floating in the sea, and the undulant boat over the waves. |
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The Deluge
The dark sublime. This oil painting depicts the Biblical flood.
It's pure enveloping chaos and suffering. A mother lifting her infant above the water, people pulling on each other, a tsunami-like wave hurtling towards them, trees blown almost to breaking-point, people holding onto broken boats, tempest darkness and winds all around.
I quite like the faint outline of a black man (presumably a slave?) helping up a white woman. Probably social commentary by Turner (who was an abolitionist).
This kind of painting would have been regarded as the most important by the academy which placed grand scenes from literature or the Bible above all else.
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Dido and Aeneas
Inspired by Virgil's The Aeneid, Prince Aeneas fell in love with Queen Dido.
In this painting, Turner shows us their refulgent blossoming love, as they set out to go hunting in the woods. According to the Tate, they setting out to go hunting in the woods.
This kind of romanticism involves Turner suggesting a profound peace, joy, plenitude, and calmness beyond our understanding. It's very beautiful.
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Snow Storm: Hannibal and his Army Crossing the Alps
This painting is part of Turner's latter works. It shows his more fanciful observations of Nature – which included vortex compositions. According to my book, it seems Turner was inspired by a violent storm he witnessed in person two years prior in Yorkshire.
Many of Turner’s peers saw the Napoleonic Wars as existential clashes between empires, comparing them to the ancient Trojan and Punic wars. France and Britain debated which was the modern Carthage or Rome.
French artists portrayed Napoleon as the modern Hannibal. Turner shows Hannibal as a miniature figure on an elephant amid an overarching overwhelming paroxysm. Nature unleashes its blind force, whirling blizzards, biting fury and flurry of snow.
He is overwhelmed by a as mountain-dwellers attack his troops. Turner’s picture became prophetic later in 1812, when Napoleon was forced to retreat from Moscow by the Russian winter.
This is an incredible painting and, I think, quite moving.
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