Monday, 9 March 2009 The Fighting Temeraire,painted by William
Turner in 1838 To my mind this is one of the best uses of light
by a painter ever. The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last
Berth to be broken up is an oil painting executed in 1838 by the
English artist J. M. W. Turner (c.1775–1851). It depicts one of
the last second-rate ships of the line which played a
distinguished role in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, the
98-gun ship HMS Temeraire, being towed towards its final berth
in East London in 1838 to be broken up for scrap. The painting
hangs in the National Gallery, London, having been bequeathed to
the nation by the artist in 1851. When Turner came to paint this
picture he was at the height of his career, having exhibited at
the Royal Academy, London, for 40 years. He was renowned for his
highly atmospheric paintings in which he explored the subjects
of the weather, the sea and the effects of light. He spent much
of his life near the River Thames estuary and did many paintings
of ships and wate