What is it about the open sea that fixates mariners in the face of endless emptiness? Or aviators that choose to roam the boundless skies where not mark can fetter the human spirit? The French Revolution in recent memory men's minds had become unfettered in a new age where the Romantic Hero cut a lonely but righteous path in pursuit of the ideal. With the inspirational writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who outlined the principles of political right in his famed 'Social Contract', change was necessary to help man free himself from the tyranny of oppression and live an enlightened life of reason. In England great writers saw that change was necessary albeit with a constitutional and liberal political nature rather than the current French radical extremity. In literature in this period writers like Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and William Wordsworth attempted to take the positive elements of the vast social and political changes of the age of the French Revolution and take it's theme further as a cause to change the lot of the poor classes in society. In the arts painters emerged to portray the same ideals of a more subtle change to mold a new society without all the upheavals of revolution. Painters like the English JMW Turner, French Eugene Delacroix and Spanish Francisco de Goya all explored the subject of man set within his landscape and his efforts to express his individuality.
Joseph Mallord William Turner is once such uniquely talented artist who would capture the very expression of the Infinite as he sought to identify the relationship of man with the forces of nature around him within the settings of his Romantic Era inspired landscapes.
Self Portrait - JMW Turner c. 1799. J. M. W. The great English Romanticist landscape painter, water-colourist, and print-maker. Born: April 23, 1775, Covent Garden, London, Died: December 19, 1851, Cheyne Walk, London, Buried: St Paul's Cathedral, City of London, United Kingdom. On view at the Tate Gallery, United Kingdom.
From a very young age JMW exhibited a precious talent with his first know compositions made at the age of 11, c. 1786, in the small town of Margate on the Kent Coast. In a series of sketches and watercolors with scenes of Kent and Oxford the child artist attempted his first perspectives which became the basis for the success of his more mature works near the approach of the turn of the century in the year 1800.
Calais Pier - JMW Turner c. 1803.
Calais Pier c. 1803 is an oil on canvas. JMW Turner draws his inspiration from a real life event that occurred in 1802 when he took his first trip abroad via Calais. Absolutely petrified by the crossing experience the young artist spoke of his boat 'nearly swampt' by rough seas and high waters. Turner in a moment would have been staring right into the heart of Death as the forces of nature would unleash their violence upon him; and he would have felt utterly helpless as the waters tossed the boat leaving his at the mercy of the veyr elements. In this scene the boat is mercifully arriving at Calais but is still surrounded by over-cast and threatening skies and dominated by the dark and seething swollen seas. But above the raging storm high above there is a glimmer of hope and the piercing ray of light signals optimism. Man is helplessly flung across the infinite but through the entire experience in the artist's mind the human spirit is elevated through the ordeal as a greater Infinite reaches out from above. The National Gallery. London.
The Battle of Trafalgar, as Seen from the Mizen Starboard Shrouds of the Victory c. 1806.
Here we have a Romantically inspired theme off heroism and patriotism as JMW Turner celebrates the British naval victory over the French at Trafalagar. The Battle of Trafalgar, as Seen from the Mizen Starboard Shrouds of the Victory c. 1806. Oil on canvas. Heroic celebration of Admiral Lord Nelson, who commanded HMS Victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805 during the Napoleonic Wars and whose famous last words were: 'Thank God I have done my duty'. Tate Gallery
Shoeburyness Fishermen Hailing a Whitstable Hoy C. 1809.
Shoeburyness Fishermen Hailing a Whitstable Hoy C. 1809. Oil on canvas, which forms part of a series of paintings of the Thames estuary painted between 1808 and 1810. JMW Turner fixation with the unruliness of the elements becomes the theme. The sheer size of the infinite waters may be over-whelming. Man, often powerless in the face of the gods, may struggle, but do so heroically. The boat struggles with it's balance above a foaming white crest with an approaching squall descending in dark colors and emphasizing the helplessness of man in the face of a wrathful storm. But there is hope that man can master his machinery and may yet escape a watery fate. National Gallery, Canada.
A Ship Aground c. 1828.
A Ship Aground c. 1828. Oil on canvas. Once again Turner tackles the helplessness of mankind before the wrath of stormy seas at Brighton, England. The theme of man's relationship with nature becomes a dominating theme of the period of Romanticism. Tossed in dark, turbid waters the vessel seems forlorn, yet Turner portrays a shimmering skyline offering hope to the desperate whose prayers ascend unto a parting sky. The Tate Galllery.
The Sea Rescue Scene c.1831.
The Sea Rescue Scene c. 1831. Oil on canvas; is a theme of struggle against the elements. A lifeboat is about to set off to relieve a stranded vessel that is signaling lights of distress. There is a power almost fixating as we observe nature at it's most violent force. Dark, brooding, hues of greys and blues envelop the viewer as seething foam at the feet seem ominous to despair. But the opening skies to the right suggest that after the storm comes the calm and the Romantic hero must learn to struggle against the elements with even greater hope to reaching the calm towards the end. Victoria and Albert London.
The Fighting Temeraire - JMW Turner c. 1839.
The Fighting Temeraire c. 1839. Oil on canvas; is an English naval theme of broken nostalgia. In 1838 The vessel ' Fighting Temeraire' was being tugged to her last berth to be broken up,her service done and complete. The 98-gun ship played a heroic role in Lord Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 for which she earned her distinguished name. Turner held Napoleon in contempt and in this work bemoans the decline of British naval power already by the 1830's. Thick strokes of cloud and sea contrast fine details of the vessel. The National Gallery.
The slave ship c. 1840
The slave ship c. 1840. Oil on canvas; is a terrifying, swirling maelstrom of helplessness set against a shimmering backdrop of yellows and greys. Turner evoking a powerful sense of overwhelming despair as the seething waters toss and turn the hapless and solitary vessel, On view Museum Of Fine Arts, Boston, USA
Burial At Sea - JMW Turner c.1842
Burial At Sea - c. 1842. Oil on canvas depiction of the burial at sea of Turner’s friend, the artist David Wilkie. Sombre, dark tones of oils mixed within the cool, shadowy waters contrasts with the lighter tints of the heavenly skies. There is a quiet, momentary dignity in the artist's death as the funerary sail heads on into the distance. A wonderful contrast of form and color through the understanding of the finality of life and the hopes that lie beyond. The Romantic hero has lived the journey and expressed his individuality with the highest expression of spirit.
In conclusion through the eyes of JMW Turner the individual rises to heroism and in that struggle defines himself through the elevation of the spirit to reach a higher state of being by accepting the forces of nature and learning to grapple with those wild elements so as to seek a balance and harmony in tempest or calm. Man is a pitiable creature; his emotions as wild as the wind, as unruly as the storm but as boundless as the open skies and vast oceans; he is himself, and his heart, in accepting his weaknesses, finds peace within itself to renew the struggle with a new spirit and yet claim for himself a final peace and higher definition of himself. The infinite oceans and boundless skies are indeed challenges, but JMW Turner know his man and has faith in the sensibility of man to rise above those difficulties and change himself and society around him. There are no serene pastoral solutions and a placid state of grace to surround the Romantic hero with vestiges of permanence. Vast open seas and immense heavenly landscapes are but images of the journey that lies ahead for man.
Themes in fine art - Pieter Bergli
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