This is a post about JMW Turner, probably Britain’s greatest artist (of the 19C anyway), and trains.
This is a picture that was painted at Maidenhead, where IK Brunel’s Great Western Railway crosses the Thames. The picture was exhibited at the RA in 1844. You can see the painting in the National Gallery, London.
The painting is an important precursor of impressionism. The sensations and feelings of speed, and machinery, and light, are what Turner is interested in.
These themes would be explored by the 20C avant-garde.
I’ll let the picture do the talking…
Later, I’ll be posting about other artists, paintings and trains.