Many paintings are inspired by the events occurring at the time the work is created. Artwork gives us a much clearer picture of those events during a time period, as opposed to just simply reading about them. Paintings stimulate our thoughts and emotions and make us curious to learn more about the particular piece we are studying. An excellent example of this is a painting by Joseph Mallord William Turner called The Fighting Temeraire.  

 Joseph Mallord William Turner was an English landscape painter who is renowned especially for his dynamic treatment of natural light effects in land and marine subjects. His work is of direct importance in the development of impressionism.  

 Turner captured a poignant bit of British history when he painted the grand, ghostly hulk of the Temeraire in the summer of 1838. The Temeraire was a ship of Admiral Nelson's glorious fleet. Every Englishman knew her history: she had fought under Nelson at the Battle of the Nile in 1798; seven years later, with all the daring her name implied, she had notably served England's cause at Trafalgar. To the Temeraire, second in the fleet's line of battle, had gone the glory of avenging Nelson's death, blasting Napoleon's enemy vessel that had rake his flagship Victory and killed Admiral Nelson. 

After 33 more years, the scene that Turner captured was of the Temeraire on her final mission of destruction - her own. Stripped of her sails and 98 guns, her hull rotting beneath a last perfunctory coat of paint, she was enroute from the naval base at Sheerness to a private wrecker's shipyard on the Thames, to be broken up for her heart of oak timbers and copper fittings. Two sturdy steam tugs guided her. Above these steamers of the new age of speed, the Temeraire loomed tall and still proud, taking the salute of a brilliant setting sun, going to her doom with a queen's grace. 

Turner's The Fighting Temeraire would have stirred the English at any time but at this stage its patriotic appeal was special. The reign of Victoria was just under way, and the pains of transition were multiple. Queen Victoria was enamored of her Prime Minister, the worldly Lord Melbourne, and under his suave guardianship she seemed to be learning more about social gossip than statecraft. Wiser heads around her were worried because the problems of the palace were pressing. The growth of England's realms abroad had complicated the colonial picture; before the Parliament was a startling report by Lord Durham, just returned from Canada, urging that all colonies be made self-governing. At home, the growth of England's economy had spread the seamier aspects of industrialism. In a recent novel, Oliver Twist, a young writer named Charles Dickens had offered a chilling look inside the compulsory workhouses for the poor. The sad thing was that the Queen herself had read the book and found it "excessively interesting," but apparently thought it pure fiction. Wherever they turned, the English saw only complexities. The nation was nearing the pinnacle of world power. To look forward was tantalizing, but to look back was reassuring. Turner's Temeraire fulfilled a widespread wish to be reminded of a time when things were simpler, when the thorniest of problems could be solved by valor alone. 

 The Fighting Temeraire is an excellent example of the use of linear perspective beginning with the horizon line (where the water and the sky meet) and the vanishing point (the setting sun). The orthogonals create the illusion of things getting smaller as they recede into the distance. The blurring of the horizon makes the painting less real but there is a sense of movement of the ships, which is consistent with the painterly element. The painting is planar as everything runs parallel with the surface of the painting. Open form creates the sense of movement of the ships and makes it easy to imagine the scene continuing beyond our view. The single source of light from the setting sun suggests the element of unity, which creates shadows and shadings. The figures blend into each other, as do the other colors. Turner virtually used every color on his palette to create this painting. 

 The hermeneutical circle can be used to help the viewer have a truer understanding of this painting. One can look closely at the old warship moving upstream on the Thames between London and Margate with the two sturdy steam tugs to guide her. The reflection of the ships can be seen in the calm, still water. The sun is setting and you can see the skyline of the city moving farther away in the distance. When you look at the whole picture, there is a sense of sadness as the grand old ship is being led on her last voyage to the scrapyard. The calm, quiet end of a beautiful day is a tribute to the history of the Temeraire. 

A London reviewer by the name of William Makepeace Thackeray wrote the following about Turner's Temeraire painting: "It is absurd to grow so politically enthusiastic about a four foot canvas, representing a ship, a steamer, a river and a sunset. But herein lies the power of the great artist. He makes you see and think of a great deal more than the object before you; he knows how to soothe or intoxicate, to fire or depress, by a few notes, or forms, or colors, of which we cannot trace the effects to the source, but acknowledge the power."  

 This painting is impacted by the events that occurred at the time it was created. Both the artist's technique as well as the political and social events of the time set the theme for this piece. 

Gerten, Carol L. J.M.W. Turner, 1775-1851. Internet. http://sunsite.unc.edu/cjackson/turner/turner_bio.htm, Oct. 1998.