Focus on Man Proposes, God Disposes and explain the Description.
The painting adopts the dark tones of Landseer's later works.  The scene shows two polar bears among the scattered wreckage of the expedition – a telescope, the tattered remains of a red ensign, a sail, and human bones, which William Michael Rossetti called "the saddest of membra disjecta".  The image shows humanity and civilization defeated by "nature, red in tooth and claw", and can be seen as a commentary on the crisis of British triumphalism and imperialism in the middle of the 19th century.
William Michael Rossetti red ensign nature, red in tooth and claw membra disjecta polar bear