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The Fighting Temeraire
An old warship of Trafalgar towed up the Thames to be broken up, under a blazing sunset.
HMS Temeraire fought at Trafalgar in 1805, second in line behind Nelson’s Victory. In 1838 a steam tug towed her up the Thames to Rotherhithe to be broken up for timber. Turner painted her pale as a ghost behind the black tug, with the sun going down on the other side of the picture.
He called it his darling and never sold it; it came to the nation with his bequest. In 2005 listeners of BBC Radio 4 voted it Britain’s greatest painting, and since 2020 it has been on the £20 note. Stand before it in 3D ›
