It was voted "the Greatest Painting in Britain" in a poll by the National Gallery and the BBC, and it's certainly one of my favorites. It's called The Fighting Temeraire, and it was painted in 1839 by the Impressionist J.M.W. Turner.
The Temeraire had played an important role in Nelson's victory over the French at Trafalgar in 1805. She remained in service until 1838, when she was towed up the Thames to be broken up.
Turner portrays the passing of the old warship against a vivid sunset, its grace and beauty in stark contrast with the new steam-driven tug belching smoke into its meticuously-drawn masts.
I see it as a picture of the Industrial Revolution, which transformed the world between 1750 and 1830 from a largely rural population engaged mostly in agriculture to an urban society of factory workers.
The most far-reaching transformation of human culture since agriculture began thousands of years earlier, the Industrial Revolution profoundly changed, not just technology, but family, economic, social and environmental values, bringing to an end many beautiful things in the name of progress.
Whether you consider it an illustration of progress or of loss depends on the way you look at the world. Rationalists tend to see it as progress; Romantics, as loss.
As a Romantic, I can't help looking back with nostalgia at a slower, simpler, more beautiful, even more humane age.
In this month's website, I present a history of the Industrial Revolution, discuss social changes resulting from it that affect us even today, and look at its influence on the arts and religious thought.
What is a favorite painting of yours? What period of history is most important to you? Just click on the link and send me an email at b.silvey@sbcglobal.net. |
