THE FIGHTING TÉMÉRAIRE
Questions to arouse interest. What is represented in this picture? Which boat is the Téméraire? What smaller boat is towing it? Why do you think it needs to be towed? What is the time of day? What makes you think so? Is the ship moving or stationary? Why does it float so high in the water? What other boats can you see in this picture? What can you see in the background? What is the condition of the water? What kind of a feeling does this picture give you? Why do you like the picture?
Original Picture: National Gallery, London, England.
Artist: Joseph Mallord William Turner.
Birthplace: London, England.
Dates: Born, 1775; died, 1851.
The story of the picture. One evening when the artist, Mr. Turner, and a party of friends were sailing down the river Thames in London, there suddenly loomed before their astonished gaze the dark hull of the famous ship called the Téméraire. They had heard and read of the many great victories won by this noble vessel, and the glory it had brought to England. Its name Téméraire means “the one who dares.” Now its days of usefulness were over, and it was being towed to its last place of anchor to be broken up.
At first they gazed in silence, for it was a sad and solemn sight to watch this feeble old boat creeping along like a disabled soldier, its former glories fading like the setting sun. The silence was broken by the exclamation of one of the young men, “Ah, what a subject for a picture!”
And yet we must remember that at the time Turner painted this picture it was considered just as commonplace and uninteresting to paint a sailing vessel as it would be for our artists to paint a bicycle or a wagon.
But Turner painted something more than a picture of a boat. He has made us feel not only the sadness in this parting scene but also all the glories of the splendid victories won in former days. Again we recall the Battle of the Nile, when the English commander, Lord Nelson, won the victory over Napoleon’s fleet and captured the Téméraire from the French. We remember how Nelson, then a young man but having already lost an arm and an eye in battle, was put in command of the English fleet and sent against the French; how after a severe storm the two fleets, going in opposite directions, passed each other in the fog, Nelson reaching Italy and Napoleon landing in Egypt. Then the older naval officers in England, who thought they should have been appointed to this important command, said all they could about the folly of sending so young a man as Nelson, and told how much better they could have done. So the people were dissatisfied and finally the order for extra supplies and provisions was countermanded just as Nelson heard where Napoleon was and wanted to start out. Then Lady Hamilton, the wife of the English minister to Italy, used her influence in his behalf, and the provisions were furnished secretly. We do not care to dwell long on that fierce Battle of the Nile, which began after six o’clock in the evening and lasted all night. Only the flashes of the guns told the positions of the different boats until the burning of the French flagship made a more terrible illumination. It was a great victory for the English.