Joseph Mallord William Turner 1775 1851 SNOW STORM

Joseph Mallord. William Turner 1775 -1851 SNOW STORM, STEAMBOAT OFF A HARBOUR’S MOUTH 1842 At the black centre of the storm, the steamboat sits off-kilter; highlighted by a patch of light which silhouettes the frail mast bent by the strong winds. Around it the sea and sky are intent on destruction, a vortex of energy spinning in bands of overlapping sky, cloud and wave. Turner added to the title the enigmatic statement, ‘The author was in this storm on the night the Ariel left Harwich’ – but he does not tell us where he was, at sea or on land. Either way, his interest lies in the threatening power of nature, a threat which is beginning to be challenged by man’s new weapon, steam.

RAIN, STEAM AND SPEED: THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY Before 1844 As the train speeds towards us, the steam whips back across the roof of the carriages, smaller and smaller as they get further away. But whereas most artists use perspective to show us depth and space, Turner has turned it round. The bridge gets wider as it reaches us, exaggerating the perspective to show us how the train will look – almost like a cinematic ‘zoom’. In the field on the right, a farmer steers a plough pulled by two horses plodding in the opposite direction, while on the track, about two-thirds of the way from the train to the corner of the painting, a hare runs at full speed to escape.