Ruskin says that this year his health, and with it in great degree, his mind, failed suddenly. And to Ruskin we owe this pathetic passage:—
'The last drawing in which there remained a reflection of his expiring power, he made in striving to realise, for me, one of these faint and fair visions of the morning mist fading from the Lake of Lucerne.
'"There ariseth a little cloud out of the sea like a man's hand ...
For what is your life?"'
Plate XXXVIII. Sunrise With a Sea Monster (about 1845) Tate Gallery
And Turner was going his own way, making his little jokes. On June 31st, 1845, he wrote to Mr. E. Bicknell of Heme Hill:—
'My Dear, SIR,—I will thank you to call in Queen Anne Street at your earliest convenience, for I have a whale or two on the canvas.'
This letter, of course, referred to the 'Whalers' pictures, exhibited in 1845 and 1846.
The 'Whalers' Sketch-Book contains drawings of 'Steamer Leaving Harbour,' 'Burning Blubber,' 'Whalers at Sea,' 'Study of Fish,' etc. Perhaps he made a voyage; perhaps he talked with sailors in one of his haunts at Wapping, and learnt from them of the wonders of the deep waters related by Arctic voyagers. However the idea or the vision came he now makes sketches of whaling subjects and paints pictures of 'Whalers,' one of which is in the Turner Gallery, four boats' crews attacking their prey with harpoons, and in the background are the white sails of their vessels, dimly seen through mists and snow wreaths. The imaginative 'Sunrise with a Sea Monster' probably belongs to the 'Whalers' period. On the misty waters of the ocean, reflecting a yellow sunrise, a sea monster, with a head like a magnified red gurnet, advances, the huge head towering out of the water. In the distance are forms suggesting icebergs. Punch had a genial sneer at a 'Whalers' picture:—
'It embodies one of those singular effects which are only met with in lobster salads and in this artist's pictures. Whether he calls his picture "Whalers" or "Venice," or "Morning," or "Noon," or "Night," it is all the same; for it is quite as easy to fancy it one thing as another.'