Ontario College of Art and Design.
The Fighting Temeraire, tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, 1775-1851.
Claude Debussy called Turner "the finest creator of mystery in the whole of art" - generous praise from a composer who himself might have deserved such a title. However, Turner is indeed a fine creator of mystery as we can see in his painting, " The Fighting Temeraire". The painting depicts a wreck being towed to its final grave, but Turner makes it beautiful and profound through his composition of the piece, his startling use of colour and his evocation of the symbolic importance of the transition from the age of sail to the age of industry. .
"The Fighting Temeraire" has remained one of the best loved pictures by a 19th Century British Artist. Turner called this painting his "darling", and it is a verdict that the British public has, for over a century and a half resoundly endorsed. It transforms the actual event of the ship's being towed to being broken up into supreme poetic fiction . .
War at sea had dominated the years in which Turner made a name for himself as an artist. He was 18 years old when the wars started, 23 when the Temeraire was launched and 30 when the Battle of Trafalgar was fought. In the Temeraire, Turner was commemorating the passing of a part of the Trafalgar legend. Since the Temeraire tried to come to Nelson's defense in the battle of Trafalgar I think this particular painting had great meaning, emotionally and artistically for Turner. He was a great patriot, who loved and admired Nelson immensely and absolutely hated Napoleon. .
The Temeraire tried to take the brunt of the gun fire from Nelson but when she came along side the Victory and was starting to pass her Nelson waved the gunship to the back so that he could be in the first line of battle. "Nelson allotted the Temeraire the position immediately astern of the Victory (Nelson's boat) in the weather column as they bore down towards the enemy, .
