£1,000 - £1,400
J.M.W. Turner Limited Edition. One of only 60 Published.
5844 - Limited edition on canvas of J.M.W. Turner's "Fighting Temeraire" from a sold out published edition of only 60 on canvas Worldwide. It will be supplied with a replacement valuation certificate for £1500 (free of charge). The quality of this print is of the highest standard, please see photographs which actually pick up the cracking in the paint from the original. Condition is mint. Please note that the full title is `The Fighting Temeraire Tugged to her Last Birth to be Broken-up, 1838` The original painting was produced in 1839. Turner`s elegy for the age of sail and British Oak embodied in seamen, man-of-war and ships of the line, also ushers in the steam age. Sold like other outdated war ships for the price of her timber, the Temeraire is towed to the breakers by a steam tug. Much later, Turner`s picture was described as his first, almost prophetic idea of smoke, soot, iron and steam. Turner called it his `darling` and refused to sell it. He intended it for the National Gallery which sits in Trafalgar Square named after the battle in which the Temeraire had served and to this day the painting remains in the collection of the National Gallery. The vessel was towed from Sheerness up the Thames to be broken-up in a Rotherhithe shipyard. The Temeraire was a 98-gun, three-decked ship of the line that had been launched in 1798, during the French Revolutionary War. Her name is a French word that means bold or fearless. On 21 October 1805, under the command of Captain Eliab Harvey, she had a chance to live up to her name. When Admiral Nelsons flagship HMS Victory came under heavy fire from the French, the Temeraire came to her defence. After a series of daring manoeuvres, she not only saved Nelsons vessel, but also captured two French ships. Nelson died, but the British won the battle. The part played by the Temeraire was commended as most noble and distinguished. This painting was thought to represent the decline of Britains naval power. The Temeraire is shown travelling east, away from the sunset, even though Rotherhithe is west of Sheerness, but Turners main concern was to evoke a sense of loss, rather than to give an exact recording of the event. Turners painting also pays tribute to the Temeraires heroic past. The glorious sunset is a fanfare of colour in her honour. It can also be seen as a symbol of the end of an era, with the sun setting on the days of elegant, tall-masted warships. The Temeraire is already a ghostly shape, fading away behind the solid form of the squat little steam tug that pulls her along to her fate. H: 76cm W: 101cm D: 1cm
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