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Summary
J. M. W. Turner: Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Artist |
artist QS:P170,Q159758 |
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Title |
Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway; the painting depicts an early locomotive of the Great Western Railway crossing the River Thames on Brunel's recently completed Maidenhead Railway Bridge.The painting is also credited for allowing glimpse of the Romantic strife within Turner and his contemporaries over the issue of the technological advancement during the Industrial Revolution (see below). |
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Object type | painting | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Date |
1844 date QS:P571,+1844-00-00T00:00:00Z/9 |
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Medium |
oil on canvas medium QS:P186,Q296955;P186,Q12321255,P518,Q861259 |
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Dimensions |
height: 91 cm (35.8 in); width: 121.8 cm (47.9 in) dimensions QS:P2048,91U174728 dimensions QS:P2049,121.8U174728 |
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Collection |
institution QS:P195,Q180788 |
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Current location |
room 34 |
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Accession number |
NG538 |
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Credit line | Turner Bequest, 1856 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Source/Photographer | http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artwork.php?artworkid=14508&size=huge | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Other versions |
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Social Commentary
Turner was a well traveled man, frequently trekking to natural wonders of mainland Europe and the British Isles to sketch them in one of his dozens of notepads. He knew of the pains one must take to travel off the beaten path and wrote of one such occasion, traveling from Rome to Paris, to a friend in 1829:
“…we never could keep warm. Or make our day’s distance good, the places we put up at proved all bad till Firenzola being even the worst for the down diligence people had devoured everything eatable (Beds none)…crossed Mont Cenis on a sledge – bivouaced in the snow with fire lighted for 3 Hours on Mont Tarate while the diligence was righted and dug out, for a Bank of Snow saved it from upsetting – and in the walk up to our knees in new fallen drift to get assistance to dig a channel thro’ it for the coach, so that from Foligno to within 20 miles of Paris I never saw the road. But snow!”1
Fifteen years later, Turner’s 1844 masterpiece, Rain, Steam and Speed: The Great Western Railway, in a way recognizes his thrill in the speed of the new coal train and his appreciation for such technology when traveling. Yet, he subtly recognizes the progressive threat that humans pose towards the cradle of the earth.
The title follows the Turner pattern of 'nature first' in his titles. But at once you see what looks like a monstrous kiln underneath the rail bridge. And flames engulfing the ecstatic figures on the far side of the river. On top of the bridge you see the face of a demon with the body of a coal burning centipede, which itself looks like a line of glowing embers. Ahead of the train it is hard to spot the tiny hare at full sprint, trying to stay ahead of the state-of-the-art technology of the mid-1800’s. What is so interesting about this piece, Olivier Meslay points out in his book JMW Turner: The Man Who Set Painting on Fire, is that “the notion of the sublime was no longer confined to natural phenomena, but incarnated in machines created by humanity with god-like aspirations, whose new power it served to magnify” and begs to question; what should we fear more, the awe of the wild. Or the annihilation of it?2
1. Meslay, Olivier. JMW Turner: The Man Who Set Painting On Fire. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd, 2005. Pg 133
2. Ibid. Pg 107
Licensing
This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".
This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be, in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details. |
This is a faithful photographic reproduction of a two-dimensional, public domain work of art. The work of art itself is in the public domain for the following reason:
The official position taken by the Wikimedia Foundation is that "faithful reproductions of two-dimensional public domain works of art are public domain".
This photographic reproduction is therefore also considered to be in the public domain in the United States. In other jurisdictions, re-use of this content may be restricted; see Reuse of PD-Art photographs for details. |
Annotations InfoField | This image is annotated: View the annotations at Commons |
One hare.
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File history
Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.
Date/Time | Thumbnail | Dimensions | User | Comment | |
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current | 23:55, 11 January 2020 | 5,661 × 4,226 (7.02 MB) | Mykola Swarnyk | Reverted to version as of 04:12, 29 January 2016 (UTC) | |
04:51, 29 January 2016 | 3,567 × 2,648 (1.64 MB) | Jklamo | Reverted to version as of 20:55, 12 April 2012 (UTC) | ||
04:12, 29 January 2016 | 5,661 × 4,226 (7.02 MB) | Mykola Swarnyk | Reverted to version as of 02:28, 12 April 2012 (UTC) | ||
20:55, 12 April 2012 | 3,567 × 2,648 (1.64 MB) | Jklamo | rv, nice resolution, but different colour rendering | ||
02:28, 12 April 2012 | 5,661 × 4,226 (7.02 MB) | Aavindraa | hq | ||
02:33, 25 July 2006 | 3,567 × 2,648 (1.64 MB) | Jklamo | J. M. W. Turner - ''Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway'' (1844), oil on canvas, National Gallery, London The painting depicts an early locomotive of the Great Western Railway crossing the [[River Th |
File usage
- 1844 in art
- Collection of the National Gallery, London
- Great Western Railway
- Maidenhead
- Maidenhead Railway Bridge
- Resonance (sociology)
- River Thames
- Victorian painting
- User:Nauticashades
- XIV:Featured picture candidates/October-2012
- XIV:Featured picture candidates/Rain, Steam and Speed
- Portal:Trains/Featured picture/Week 46, 2006
- Portal:Trains/Selected picture/2006 archive
- Portal:Trains/Selected picture candidates/Rain Steam and Speed the Great Western Railway.jpg
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Width | 5,661 px |
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Height | 4,226 px |
Bits per component |
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Pixel composition | RGB |
Orientation | Normal |
Number of components | 3 |
Horizontal resolution | 72 dpi |
Vertical resolution | 72 dpi |
Software used | Adobe Photoshop CS6 (13.0 20120305.m.415 2012/03/05:21:00:00) (Windows) |
File change date and time | 22:27, 11 April 2012 |
Exif version | 2.21 |
Color space | Uncalibrated |
Unique ID of original document | 8A8763F8141DEDD563800859B9655454 |
Date and time of digitizing | 18:22, 11 April 2012 |
Date metadata was last modified | 18:27, 11 April 2012 |