General Chat

Me too.

I did some more digging.

Turner faked it - I already knew that all the masts and spars had been removed before the tow. I have heard it said that some of the timbers were used for the reconstruction of the Prospect of Whitby after a serious fire.

"Turner was seen on board a Margate steamer sketching the passage of the Temeraire upriver to Beatson's ship breaking yard at Rotherhithe on 6 September I838, although what he saw and what he painted are two different things. Thus we know from contemporary newspaper reports that the Temeraire was towed by two tugs, and another observer of the towing later testified that the painter invented the spectacular sunset. The Temeraire glorified for the last time by Turner's brushes, for in reality she is stripped of her masts, sail and rigging, all guns and useful parts are removed by the Admiralty as spares. The ship is to be stripped of its oak wood at the breaker's yard, the copper sold back to the Admiralty for £3000, the breaker having paid around £5500 for the hull."

Serious money.

Who cares? It is just one of the most stunnig paintings ever.......

Turner is a god in this house

No the moon could not be setting as the sun was rising. That happens when you have a full moon and the sun and moon are in opposite ends of the sky.

Have you seen it at the National Gallery?

It is for the most part high and dry with all the Reynolds and Constables with only some more Turner sea scenes for company.

I feel that all these 6 Turners should be sent to the National Maritime Museum where they would be loved. Rain Steam and Speed belongs to the railways but the shed at York is no place for such a work of genius.

Went to a Turner exhibition at the Royal Academy a few years ago and said "Never again!". We were packed in like sardines. I couldn't get a view of half the pictures and when I could get close enough to see one I couldn't stand in front of it for more than a few seconds because of the crush behind me.

Did see some Turners in comfort at Petworth House in October last.

Turner was an artist,he could put the moon and sun anywhere he liked, just like he shifted Chichester cathedral around a bit to get a good picture.

An artist ? I always thought he was one of the gods.

There are inaccuracies in the painting - the masts and time of day for example, though in the background there is a second paddle steamer 'tug' making it's way toward the ship.
Turner was something of a romanticist, and a formidable (imo) 'atmospheric' painter. There is some speculation (without his confirmation, it must remain so) that the the painting represented an end of one era, and the beginning of another - similar to that of his own mortality - was the Temeraire him, perhaps? And the nasty, smoking tugs the future Industrial Revolution and speculation about his own future?
Whichever or whatever, it's one of the most fascinating paintings I've drooled over !!!

:-D

That ship in full sail

.Is it the ghost of the Temeraire ?


Does it symbolise how she was in her glory days at Trafalgar or does it perhaps show how that ship,with every bit of canvas utilised,still is unabe to keeppace with the all-powerful little steam tug?