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J.M.W.Turner - Rain, Steam, and Speed

Rain, Steam, and Speed The Great Western Railway

About the rain there can be no doubt; it envelops the whole land in a light veil of mist; it strikes like beams across the bridge. But  it is only summer rain, not sufficient to stop the ploughman in :he field over the water—a good strong shower. however, which must  somewhat disconcert the waders or bathers on the left. The steam also is obvious. visibly in the puffs that come from the engine, and. mentally, from the fact of there being an engine at all. And the speed—yes, that is evident too. from the distance between the puffs of steam, and the terror of the poor hare. who will surely be overtaken and crushed in an instant. Some persons see a deeper meaning in this picture, something analogous to that of the Témérairs— the old order changing, the easy-going past giving way to the quick-living future; and there is something in the contrast between the plough and the stean­engine the ugly form of the railway bridge and train, and the beauty and peace of the old bridge and the landscape, which shows that some such thoughts were not absent from the painter’s mind. But this is one of the pictures which is best without a title. for no title can comprehend all it may be intended to mean. It. suggestiveness is infinite, and, for those who do not care about seeking out hidden meanings, its marvellous ness is sufficient of itself Any one can go and stand before it. and the longer they so stand the more wonderful will appear the power which could suggest much by touches, which seem at first to be as meaningless are innumerable and slight.

The National Gallery of London

Exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1844. Oil on canvas, 91 x 122 cm. Turner Bequest. The scene is fairly certainly identifiable as Maidenhead railway bridge, which spans the Thames between Taplow and Maidenhead. The bridge, designed by the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and completed in 1839, has two main arches of brick, very wide and flat. The view is to the east, towards London. On the left people are boating on the river, while to the right a ploughman works on a field. The tranquility of these traditional activities contrasts with the steam train rushing towards the viewer, the stark outline of its black funnel clearly visible. In front of the train a hare, one of the speediest of animals, dashes for cover. Turner's picture can be associated with the 'railway mania' which swept across England in the 1840s. It is also an outstanding example of his late style of painting. Sky and river landscape are dissolved in a haze of freely applied oil paint, to give a striking impression of the contrasting movement of driving rain and speeding train.

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