Turner, the Fighting Temeraire

Download or read book Turner, the Fighting Temeraire written by Judy Egerton and published by National Gallery England. This book was released on 1995 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Temeraire, a 98-gun ship of the line, had fought gallantly beside Nelson's Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. After Trafalgar there were no more major naval battles - the Napoleonic wars ended in 1815 - and like many other warships, the Temeraire was relegated to harbour duties. By 1838, 40 years old, she was decaying; she was stripped of reusable materials and sold for the value of her timbers to a Rotherhithe ship-breaker. J. M. W. Turner's 'The Fighting Temeraire, tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838', one of the best-loved pictures in the National Gallery, depicts the passing of the Temeraire to her doom. From her inglorious final journey - a huge but powerless vessel without masts, rigging, sails or flags, towed by two steam tugs - Turner made a magnificent and deeply symbolic painting.