This is a further continuation of my exploration of the Turner’s gallery at the Tate Britain.
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This collection is distinguished as works which William Turner had submitted to exhibitions. The earlier exhibitions were based on the old masters - of Titian, Rembrandt etc. Afterwards, he allowed his own inspiration and control of light and colour to come through.
Some of these paintings are enormous, indeed colossal. It’s obvious Turner was making an impact at these exhibitions.
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London from Greenwich Park
What a vista. This was painted during the Napoleonic Wars.
The hustle-bustle of the Thames, the foggy distant London life marked against the serene calm and beauty of Greenwich Park. There is something majestic and beautiful about the deer. Their family are sitting nestled together in the plush vegetation with one of their fawn observing us. It’s all very romantic and very charming.
The Dome of St Paul’s Cathedral.
Greenwich University; formerly the Old Royal Naval College.
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Aeneas and the Sibyl, Lake Avernus
Aeneas and the Sibyl from the Aeneid by Virgil. The Trojan leader Aeneas wants to consult his father Achises in the underworld. He meets the priestess Cumaean Sibyl who agrees to guide him through the kindgom of the dead.
According to the Tate, this is probably his first attempt at oil painting of a ‘classical’ landscape.
Broken slabs like tombstones, dark woods, gloomy black lifeless lake, the falling sun, faint outline of ghosts. The priestess seems to radiate warmth, life, and joy from the centre. Aeneas rushing.
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The Decline of the Carthaginian Empire
Exquisite imposing architecture amid some elegant forestry, and ships in the distant attest to the empire’s trade and wealth. Carthage was the most powerful empire before ancient Rome. This painting captures an alluring vista, and few sights evoke such calm resignation as the refulgent setting sun.
At first sight, it seemed to me that the Carthaginians were in plenitude and contentment. But, the details are more subtle. Objects strewn across the floor, in the darkened corner a lady balancing a distressed head on her raised palm, at the other side a woman holding her baby tightly (in the face of some distant danger), the darkened section of the painting has a plinth-like structure on which a statute is missing and the waves seem choppier that side.
A sense of foreboding perhaps in this painting. Things aren’t disastrous yet. The sheer detail in this painting is incredible. I spent an age in this exhibition - with my nose almost pressed on it - studying the artistic decorative details.
Turner gives us drama, turned-up 100%.
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Regulus
Regulus was a captured Roman General by the Carthaginians who had his eyelids removed and then pointed at the sun. Here, Turner displaced Claude’s modest glowing sunset with a blaze of resplendent yellow light dazzling all who gaze upon it.
Tumultuous waves in a gusty wind, a child in their mother’s arms,
someone beckoning children to the shoreline.
Turner saw Seaport at Sunset by Claude Lorrain in 1821. So, in Rome, in 1828, Turner responded with a composition mirroring Claude’s painting; but with its central narrative exploding in riotous commotion and drama, with beams of glowing messiah-like sunlight flooding the canvas.
An elegant seaport transformed into the epicentre of intense sudden scorching drama.
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The Goddess of Discord Choosing the Apple of Contention in the Garden of the Hesperides
What a vista, a panorama which encompasses a woman balancing a water jug on her head, people in the distant gardens playing, scenes of plenty, woman with a hand on her hips looking at her companion. Overall, a scene of calm and security and peace.
On the other side, a haggard old lady receives apples. From ancient Greek mythology, the golden apples grew on a tree in the Garden of the Hesperides which was watched over by a dragon that never slept. The goddess of Discord, in disguise, takes one of the apples which triggers the Trojan War.
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| Dragon’s armoured exoskeleton, bulging yellow eyes, and flammable breath. |
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Mercury Sent to Admonish Aeneas
Wow.
I think there is something is aesthetically majestic and alluring in the twisting swirling eddies of rosewood/ferruginous/bronzy/chocolate against the pure radiant sunshine and azure skyline. It’s like we’re looking through a misty pane. The sun’s outline is vague and we’re not sure where it ends. The two dark patches, to me, feel like some solid monument town-like structures, while the rest is some earth-like surrounding which forms a near single element.
Once again, it depicts Aeneas by the poet Virgil. He stands-up with his Tyrian purple cloak. Once again, a mother holding her baby and facing Aeneas.
To me, the overall effect is bewitching (which remind me of his Venice works). Both the intensity of the colours, the tumult and turmoil, and the swirling vortex feel make for a great painting.
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The Holy Family
Reminds me of Titian.
Once again, very charming. The beloved Christ seems to the focal point of light, and is about to be lifted and cradled tenderly in his mother’s arms. The pastoral arcadian locale and environs conspire to render this spot as lovely as it is inviting and beneficent.
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The Tenth Plague of Egypt
The ten plagues of Egypt were supposed to be God’s punishments of Egyptians for not letting the Jews leave Egypt. This punishment was the killing of all the first-born sons of the Egyptians.
When Turner became a member of the Academy, landscapes were considered inferior to biblical or classical vistas as didactic and edifying.
Little dead babies. People being chased by maniacs.
The enveloping darkness of the skies representing the depraved wanton destruction of human life. Scarcely any trees and vegetation, and no enriching waters. The sun is in the process of being blocked out entirely, to obnubilate the earth. The Tate says it represents man’s lack of control over the supernatural.
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Pilate Washing his Hands
This is supposed to depict Pontius Pilate washed his hands before the multitude on the capital punishment of the Christ.
The lighting in this painting is quite interesting. Light focused on the centre. Distressed lugubrious indistinct faces. The darkness around can make it a scene from some hellish cavern-like hallway. The sweet woman hugging and caress her child (as, presumably, a source of strength and endurance?).
This painting is quite pretty; but don’t feel it is as beguiling.
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Rome seen from the Vatican
Turner painted this sweeping vista of the Vatican, St Peter’s Square.
This painting is absolutely enormous. It has almost dinosaur-like dimensions and is probably an homage to Rome as the birth-spring of antiquity and the Renaissance. (I hope to visit Rome soon). Raphael was one of Turner’s influences; and, in 1820, it was the 300th year of Raphael’s death.
While I think this is charming, I don’t think it’s nearly as aesthetically beautiful as Mercury Sent to Admonish Aeneas.
Olympian-sized painting. This painting consumes an entire wall.
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Entrance of the Meuse
Dutch ship running aground on a sandbank. It’s reminiscent of his other painting ‘Shipping at the mouth of the Thames‘.
The darkness in the clouds resembles some grasping appendage. The ocean’s blackness imparts a feel of empty coldness. I love how Turner is such a virtuoso in painting ships; with beautiful sails, masts etc. towboat. I also like how the haggard old man (Captain?) seems confused and tired, and looking in our direction.
Then, there is the young man is collecting the oranges before they are lost overboard. If you look closely you can see two oranges by the oar - including one which has submerged. Once again, Turner gives us details and drama.
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The Shipwreck
According to the Tate, we don’t know if this painting was inspired by an actual shipwreck.
Once again, as above, we ponder the powerful cold harshness of the sea; a bleak howling wilderness. The white crests of waves help us focus on the outlines of vessels and those poor souls.
It’s extraordinary just how much detail and trauma is painted on the canvas.
People holding each other, a man plunging his hands into the water to grasp some prized object and his closest companion helping him to lift it out, then there is a moving rendering of a man looking down his hand obscuring his face, everyone in perilous disarray.
The last ship looks as though it may founder. Everyone is forsakenly gripping something: ropes, oars, rudders, beams; but the powerful waves cannot be mollified.
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Agrippina Landing with the Ashes of Germanicus
Agrippina carried the ashes of her husband Germanicus, a Roman general, from the the city of Antioch to Rome in an urn.
A stunning landscape with beautiful architectural edifices; and yet the sight of a single lady - the widow - cultivates a lugubrious and melancholy feeling. Another a lady, with children in her arms are waiting for their mother. They stillness of the water accentuates the emotions.
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