Whalersca. 1845
A harpooned whale thrashes in a welter of spray, its shape almost lost in a vortex of white, grey and gold, while the whalers close in and a ship waits in the haze. More about this work
About this work
A harpooned whale thrashes in a welter of spray, its shape almost lost in a vortex of white, grey and gold, while the whalers close in and a ship waits in the haze. Turner exhibited four whaling pictures in 1845 and 1846, when he was about seventy, drawing on Thomas Beale’s published account of the sperm whale fishery. The near-abstract handling of sea, light and mist shows the extraordinary freedom of his last years, which puzzled many contemporaries but looks forward to much later painting.
Written by Ochre Editions.
How it was made
- Oil paint
- Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.
Joseph Mallord William Turner
English, 1775–1851 · Born and died in London.
Turner, a London barber’s son, entered the Royal Academy Schools at fourteen and was elected a full Academician at twenty-six. Travelling constantly in Britain and on the Continent, he filled hundreds of sketchbooks and made thousands of watercolours. His oils moved from classical landscapes in the manner of Claude towards vortices of light, steam and weather, as in The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons, a fire he witnessed in 1834. He left most of his work to the nation.
Written by Ochre Editions.
Rights and the museum’s record
Public domain. The Met has dedicated this image to the public domain under CC0, so anyone may copy, adapt and use it, for any purpose, without asking. Our prints and files are reproductions made from the museum’s image; the museum doesn’t endorse them.
- Object number
- 96.29
- Credit
- Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Type
- Paintings
- Department
- European Paintings
- Licence
- CC0 1.0 Universal
- Museum record
- See it on the museum’s site
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