JMW Turner: The Slave Ship / The Fighting Temeraire

JMW Turner Artist and Activist You will see two pictures. For each one, discuss the questions raised and the meaning of the details highlighted.

What is going on in this picture? What happened directly before this scene? What will happen afterwards? What does the artist want us to feel? Blue sky breaking through Blood Red, Stormy Sky Fish eating a body Hands, Chains

Information
Painted by JMW Turner
Anti-Slavery campaigner and Artist
Referring to Zong Case – slaves thrown overboard in an insurance scam
Over 100 men, women and children died
Historian Simon Schama calls this very modern painting “the greatest painting of the 19 th Century”

Is the sun setting, or rising? How does this change the message of the picture? The “ Fighting Temeraire ” – a ship which had helped defeat Napoleon at Waterloo 30 years earlier In reality the masts were broken and the ship was rotten. Why has Turner restored it? The steamship in the foreground is towing the Temeraire into dock to be broken up for scrap What part of this picture symbolises the old world? What part of this picture symbolises the new industrial age? What part of the picture makes it difficult to decide if the artist is sad or happy about these changes?

Information
Referring to a sight seen by Turner on the banks of the Thames
The great old warship being dragged to the docks to be broken up for scrap by a new steamship
He had mixed feelings…
(a) If the sun is setting , the painting is a sad reflection on the end of the old world
(b) If the sun is rising , the painting is a positive message about the dawn of a new era

To end with…
The historian Simon Schama analysed both of these great paintings in his TV series “The History of Art”
Which one do you think he concluded was “The greatest painting of the 19 th Century”?
- Take a class vote, then your teacher will tell you the answer

Simon Schama voted for…
The Slave Ship!
Your next task is to play the “Middle Passage Simulation” at www.activehistory.co.uk to learn more about the sorts of conditions Turner was commenting on in this picture.

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JMW Turner: The Slave Ship / The Fighting Temeraire

by russeltarr on Feb 02, 2008

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JMW Turner: The Slave Ship / The Fighting Temeraire — Presentation Transcript