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A Seascape Painting is a painting, which features a portion of the sea prominently. The drama and the placidity of the sea are excellent subject matters for a painting. Painters like Turner have taken this art form to unbelievable heights.
Turner’s Seascapes
J.M.W. Turner was one of the greatest European painters of seascapes. His oils are somber in color but reveal his preoccupation with contrasted effects of light and atmospheric effects such as storms and rainbows. He is commonly known as "the painter of light". Although, he was more famous for his oils, Turner is also regarded as one of the founders of English watercolour landscape painting.
The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last Berth to be broken up is probably one of the most famous Seascape Paintings.
The painting shows the 98-gun ship Temeraire which played an important role in the 1805 Battle of Trafalgar being taken towards its final berth in east London in 1838 to be broken up.
It signifies an end of an era. People still throng the National Gallery in London to be overwhelmed with a sense of nostalgia that this painting has the capacity to evoke. In 2005 The Fighting Temeraire was voted the greatest painting in a British art gallery.
The Slave Ship also known as Slavers throwing overboard the Dead and Dying — Typhoon coming on is another Famous Seascape painting by J.M.W. Turner.It was first exhibited in 1840.
The sea is approached through the subject of 19th century slave trade. In what is considered to be a perfect instance of visual metaphor the violent power of the sea is symbolical of the tyrrany of the white slavemasters. This disturbing piece of art enthralls us with its vibrant colors. The way in which he mereges the sea and sky around the distant ship is also considered to be masterly. The most disturbing part of the painting is that in the lower portion of the painting, hands of black slaves can be seen still shackled.
Turner’s Seascape Paintings are considered to be studies in light and color. His theory isconsidered to be revolutionary, particularlty that yellow was closest color to the production of white light in painting.
Since Turner many other painters have tried to capture the drama of the sea in their canvas with varying degree of success. The magic and the mystery of sea continue to seduce generation of painters.
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