The Storm by Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851). c. 1840-45. Oil on canvas. The height is given on the museum's site as: h(cm) frame:54.6; w(cm) frame:77.0; d(cm) frame:7.4. Accession no. NMW A 509. Acquired by bequest in 1963, as part of the Davies Collection. This is the second of the two "storm" paintings" which experts have had some doubts about (see Joll et al., p. 42), but which are now accepted as Turner's. This is a desperate scene, and one in which the observer is placed in the very midst of the drama, with nothing to cling to but broken ropes and tossed vessels of all kinds.
The painting in its frame.
Photographs, text and formatting by Jacqueline Banerjee. You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and the National Museum of Wales and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one. [Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Related Material
- The Morning after the Storm
- The Shipwreck
- A Disaster at Sea
- A Ship Aground: Yarmouth (a sample study)
- The Reality of Shipwreck
Bibliography
"The Davies Sisters." Amgueddfa Cymru — National Museum Wales. Web. 27 August 2019.
Joll, Evelyn, Martin Butlin and Luke Herrmann, eds. Oxford Companion to J.M.W. Turner. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
"The severe storms at the end of last week...." The Spectator Archive. Web. 27 August 2019.
Created 26 August 2019